I was conceived in a petri dish and survived. On a good day, 30-50% of embryos make it to the implantation stage, also known as the blastocyst stage.[i] Of those embryos that are implanted, 45% flourish into a pregnancy, resulting in a live birth.[ii]
Optimistically, a successfully fertilized egg (embryo) has roughly a 13.5-22.5% chance of being born.
If I had been just outside that slim percentile, along with my other unborn siblings, IVF (in vitro fertilization) doctors would have reduced my death to something “completely normal (and expected).”[iii] My life would have been casually dismissed as a way to console my parents. In other words, I would have been another statistic. However, God had other plans.
Although unconventional, my life began in a glass dish under a microscope. I was wholly human from the start, given that life objectively begins at fertilization. Yet, I was not treated with human rights or dignity. The doctors who took the oath to “do no harm” simply waited to see if I would progress to the next stage with mediocre expectations at most.
It was only by the grace of God that I developed favorably in the embryonic stage, despite having a less-than-desirable chance of survival, and was implanted, resulting in a viable pregnancy.
Why IVF is Not the Compassionate Option
When the compassion argument is offered, it refers only to the couples seeking the procedure. There is no compassion or regard for the lives that have been intentionally fostered, with the expectation that at least half will die, and others will be destroyed or discarded. IVF inherently destroys life while attempting to manufacture it.
Still, IVF is paraded around as the “compassionate” option for couples who are not able to conceive children naturally. In reality, IVF has ended more innocent lives than abortion. Based on numbers provided by the CDC, it is estimated that the IVF industry has a death toll almost twice as high as the abortion industry.[iv]
In addition to the inflated rate of fatality associated with IVF, there is a surplus of approximately 1.5 million human embryos (babies) frozen either for future use, donation, or for the rest of time.[v] Without a doubt, the act of creating human life and freezing it or storing it in a liquid nitrogen tank commodifies and exploits the Imago Dei.
Consequently, commodification leads to further perversion of IVF. For instance, IVF paves an avenue for same-sex couples to have children through gestational surrogacy, inherently depriving the child of a mother or father.[vi] It is without a doubt that IVF enhances the culture’s disregard for God’s biblical design for marriage and the nuclear family.
Wrestling With the Truth
The first time I heard about the ethical horrors of IVF, I was disconcerted and taken aback. How could I be against something that I am a direct product of? I found myself scrambling to justify in vitro fertilization and to convince myself that there are ethical ways to go about it. A denial of IVF felt like a denial of my own existence. That was a lie.
As is true for babies conceived in rape or incest, babies conceived in IVF are precious, valuable human beings who bear the Image of God. The very fact that IVF produces such human life is the exact reason why it must cease to exist. Human life is being cherry-picked, genetically modified, destroyed, experimented upon, and frozen in time.
In vitro fertilization poses an attack on the sanctity of human life and an assault on human rights. The fate of thousands, if not millions, of delicate lives is now in the careless hands of latex gloves and sterile labs. While I recognize and cherish all the lives that IVF has brought about, myself included, the incalculable harm it inflicts on humanity cannot be ignored.
Being Pro-IVF is Not Pro-Life
I did not survive the process of IVF by mere luck. The Lord, by His providence and grace, used IVF as the facet to create me and bring my life to fruition. Scripture writes that God can use evil for good and, ultimately, His glory.[vii] My life symbolizes the good fruit God extracted from IVF, but it cannot be used to mask the rotten fruit that hangs so prominently.
In vitro fertilization has the potential to create human life that is carried from fertilization to birth while juxtaposed with the near guarantee that human life will die in the process. Given that IVF destroys, commodifies, and extorts the majority of lives it produces, it is simply inconsistent with pro-life values and the words of Scripture.
Although we have been called to be fruitful and multiply, we are not called to do so at the cost of innocent human life and the destruction of the Imago Dei.
Sources:
Optimal Number of Eggs for IVF: What You Need to Know
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) > Fact Sheets > Yale Medicine
IVF Attrition Rate & Embryo Survival: What to Expect
More human embryos destroyed through IVF than abortion every year | Catholic News Agency
National Embryo Donation Center
Gestational Surrogacy: What Is It, Process, Risks & Benefits
Maddie Broome
Georgia Right to Life
IVF Survivor
This article is Part 1 of the three-part Think about Such Things Spring Series. Make sure you are subscribed to GRTL’s newsletter by May 1st to receive Part 2 straight to your inbox.
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[1] Reproductive Medicine Associates (IVF Clinic)
[2] In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) > Fact Sheets > Yale Medicine.
[3] IVF Attrition Rate & Embryo Survival: What to Expect
[4] More human embryos destroyed through IVF than abortion every year | Catholic News Agency
[5] National Embryo Donation Center
[6] “Gestational surrogacy is when a person carries and gives birth to a baby for another person or couple.” (Gestational Surrogacy: What Is It, Process, Risks & Benefits)
[7] Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28