File:Diagram showing human embryo grades for in vitro fertilisation (IVF); Author:K.Hardy; Lic.:CC BY 4.0
Throughout the election year, one issue came back to the center of discussion over and over again: in vitro fertilization. Democrats launched an assault upon the Trump campaign and many Republicans, claiming that they intended to take away IVF access from Americans. Now this may have only elevated to the current level of focus it has due to the left’s bringing it up, but the IVF question has certainly raised important issues since then. Obviously, it gained attention of the President Donald Trump. In February, the President signed an executive order expanding access to IVF, among other concerns for new and expecting parents.
Now let me be clear here – this is a time for us as pro-life advocates to think and to speak very carefully.
On one hand, we agree wholeheartedly with the President when he says (as he signed this order) “We want more babies.” That is absolutely true and it is a totally good and biblical desire. More children, building more families, is a good thing, not only for families and for the Church, but also for our nation itself. I think efforts undertaken by government (within its proper role) are good things.
The real pause comes here in the technology that’s being pushed. There have long been grave moral concerns about the IVF industry’s practice of collecting as many eggs and creating as many embryos as possible, freezing the leftovers to meet any number of fates that do not end in a couple bearing a child. There are certainly more ethical ways to practice IVF, such as creating and planting one embryo at a time, but those are not efficient or cost-effective, both of which were central to President Trump’s order. The under-regulated IVF industry simply shouldn’t be unleashed with new government funding and no changes to how it is practiced.
The bottom line of this discussion is that we as pro-lifers have our work cut out for us! Rather than disapprove from the sidelines, we need to get in to the middle of the fray and educate people on the goodness of desiring and pursuing children, along with the facing of moral questions in how we pursue that rightly.
This post originally appeared at https://www.phyllisschlafly.com/family/a-christian-approach-to-ivf-and-politics/
Phyllis Schlafly