IVF is getting a lot of attention this past week because of the Alabama Supreme Court ruling. For those who do not know, IVF refers to “in vitro fertilization”, and is a fertility procedure where multiple eggs are harvested from a woman, fertilized in a laboratory, and then one or more are selectively implanted back into her (or a surrogate’s) uterus. And all of this matters because the basic pro-life position is that life begins at conception meaning that each of those harvested eggs that are fertilized deserve the same protection and life-honoring treatment that any other image-bearer of God should be afforded under His law. And that’s really the heart of the discussion, because IVF is marketed as a this purely positive treatment for those who greatly desire to have a child, but not much attention is placed on the process itself, where in the Western world there are currently millions of frozen but fertilized embryos, many of which, no one has any plans to implant, and which will eventually, if nothing is done to prevent it, be destroyed.
So, in this episode, we want to talk through the issue. Our position is pretty straightforward. IVF has a lot of serious moral problems, and while a single IVF customer might be able to find a doctor and associated laboratory that is willing to limit its egg harvesting, fertilization, and implantation so that every egg harvested is implanted, there are still moral problems with that strictly controlled process, and there is no reason to believe that the doctor and laboratory are following this strict and limited protocol with their other patients.
In the end, this really does become an issue about God’s sovereignty. As we see in scripture, men and women have always wrestled with the issue of fertility and offspring. And it has always been an emotional and heart-wrenching topic. But God’s answer is always the same. He opens and closes the womb. Yes, there are things that man can do that do not fall outside of our obedience to God, but there are also paths that require us to sin and even kill our own children to get what we want. IVF is not special in this regard, but it is something that Christians should understand. Please join us as we discuss this very important topic.
Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2024/03/why-ivf-is-wrong-and-anti-life-ep-158-audio/
Thumbnail image by mulan under CC BY-SA and Marco Verch under CC BY (via Flickr)
Timecodes
00:00 The Problem with IVF
05:58 Abortion is Legal Everywhere
07:17 A Dark History
12:38 Can it be Done Right?
19:27 Death Rate
22:24 Intentions and Infertility
39:33 Snowflake Adoption
53:12 What if You’ve Done IVF?