For couples experiencing infertility, IVF is often the first port of call, and today, millions of children have been brought into the world through this powerful reproductive technology. But many Christians are concerned about how IVF is normally practised, with dozens of fertilised embryos created but not actually re-implanted, lingering on in frozen limbo, destroyed or donated for scientific research. Some Christian fertility doctors have set up their own clinics to pursue ‘ethical’ IVF, sharply limiting how many spare embryos are created and tweaking the process to make it more amenable to conservative and pro-life believers. Today, we explore one story of an IVF doctor whose conscience drove him to do just this, and the ethical questions which surround trying to do IVF differently.
Read the AP article which inspired today’s episode: https://apnews.com/article/christian-ivf-doctor-moral-dilemma-tennessee-043ca82cf706233380cf516abada9aa8
Listen to some of our previous episodes on IVF:
Infertility and IVF: Hidden wounds, premature quintuplets, embryo donation and the procreative-unitive bond https://www.johnwyatt.com/infertility-and-ivf-hidden-wounds-premature-quintuplets-embryo-donation-and-the-procreative-unitive-bond/
Why have anti-abortion activists accidentally banned fertility treatment in Alabama? https://www.johnwyatt.com/qa-13/
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