Conservatives agree on many issues yet are torn on in vitro fertilization (IVF). Over the last two years, the pro-life movement has gained exceptional ground in protecting preborn infants without a voice. The Supreme Court ruling of Dobs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022 overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling made fifty years prior. The Dobbs ruling states that the Constitution does not grant rights to an abortion, and the issue is left up to elected officials. Dobs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was a great victory in life, but we must handle the IVF split in the pro-life movement.
For a cohesive and effective movement to make a change in society, there must be agreement on principle. Some conservatives wish to protect IVF because it helps couples bring children into the world, and many conservatives want to abolish it since it also commits abortions of the unborn. Sen. Ted Cruz (R. – TX) and Sen. Katie Britt (R – AL) have very recently cosponsored a bill that would protect IVF and give Medicaid funds to the industry. President Donald Trump has also expressed this year that he supports IVF. Just because Cruz, Britt, and Trump are confused or conflicted on the issue of life does not mean the rest of us should be. Let us further investigate and bring clarity to the functions of IVF, the industry’s morality, and the place IVF has in a nation that believes in liberty and justice for all.
In Vitro Fertilization is an industry of helping couples bring life into this world. Though IVF does help couples get pregnant, it is not the full story. Eggs are harvested from the mother and fertilized in the lab; however, most fertilized embryos die days later. Success is slim and difficult; however, 47% of the time more than the desired number of eggs will be fertilized and survive. What happens to these babies in embryo? They remain in freezers or go through the process of “selective reduction – a pseudonym for abortion. 99% of the extra embryos are aborted. Regardless of success, IVF commits abortions regularly. The babies not desired by their parents nor killed are stored in a freezer with no chance at life. How would anyone one of us feel if we were placed in a freezer with no chance at life?
Let’s say IVF does not kill any babies. If this is the case IVF still plays the role of God by unnaturally pushing for fertilization. In reality, IVF plays God by selecting who lives, who freezes, and who dies. Just like babies who were conceived in undesired pregnancies – whether from consensual sex, rape, or incest – the infants are killed because the baby is not desired. This begs the question: does being desired determine someone’s value? Is justice based on our personal desires, conveniences, and luxuries? The countless babies that are killed in the IVF industry cheapens and defaces the importance and value of life the same way as a regular abortion procedure.
God has instructed, “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, ‘I the Lord, am the maker of all things…” (Isaiah 44:24 LSB). If God is the creator of life, do we have any place to circumvent Him and kill His innocent human creation? In Vitro Fertilization treatment may assist couples in bringing life into this world, but it comes at a heavy cost… the death of the innocent. We should recognize that abortions are not just committed at the abortion clinic or at home through the abortion pill, but at IVF labs as well.
John Adams profoundly stated, “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” On top of this, the motto and legacy of our nation is, “In God We Trust.” A morally and religiously upright people cannot govern righteously by trusting in our fallen human intuition, but we must trust in God and His commandments. If there is no trust in a higher power that determines what is right and wrong, people determine what is right and wrong based on personal gain, convenience, and any other desired reason. We must remember that we are a nation that has enshrined all men are created equal and that they are provided by their Creator unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We will fail to protect all the unborn if Conservatives remain divided on this vital issue.
IVF is becoming a more rampant issue being debated today. Even in the aftermath of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Republicans are divided as a nation on the sanctity of life, and are divided as a movement on whether IVF is moral. Because we can play God does not make it right. We would not want to be discarded, frozen, and killed ourselves thus, we should not do the same to innocent and voiceless unborn babies. Fetuses are not our toys or expendable commodities that only get to live if we deem them worthy. Every unborn baby’s life is unique, beautiful, and sacred.
If Conservatives are to be successful in defending life in the United States, we must recognize the injustices of IVF, which treads on the right to life of the unborn. Just as we demand justice, liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness for ourselves – we should also demand this for all infants. If the pro-life movement is to succeed on the issue of protecting life, Conservatives cannot be divided on the issue of IVF and see it for what it is – a grave injustice to the unborn.
