The Southern Baptist Convention has announced its opposition to in vitro fertilization treatment, stating its destruction of embryos was incompatible with the organization’s support for life at every stage.
With IVF fueling around 2% of births in the U.S., the anti-abortion movement has splintered over how to reconcile a fertility option that is pro-family yet destroys embryos. The SBC boasts nearly 13 million members across the country, making itself a pivotal player in the political chess game around IVF.
On Wednesday, the SBC passed its resolution affirming its belief that embryos are life and, as such, should not be destroyed during IVF treatments.
“Whereas every human being is made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27-28) and is thus to be respected and protected from the moment of fertilization until natural death … [the SBC calls] on Southern Baptists to reaffirm the unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including those in an embryonic stage, and to only utilize reproductive technologies consistent with that affirmation,” the resolution stated.
The resolution did not call for a ban on IVF. Rather, the SBC outlined concerns about the fertility treatment’s ethical implications, citing the genetic testing that weeds out embryos with genetic defects, as well as millions of unused frozen and abandoned embryos in storage.
“In Vitro Fertilization most often engages in the destruction of embryonic human life and increasingly engages in dehumanizing methods for determining suitability for life and genetic sorting, based on notions of genetic fitness and parental preferences; and WHEREAS, Estimates suggest that between 1 million and 1.5 million human beings are currently stored in cryogenic freezers in an embryonic state throughout the United States, with most unquestionably destined for eventual destruction … [the SBC will] advocate for the government to restrain actions inconsistent with the dignity and value of every human being, which necessarily includes frozen embryonic human beings,” the resolution affirmed.
Destroying and abandoning embryos is inherent to the IVF process. To organizations such as SBC who believe life is present at the embryonic stage, the IVF process represents more than creating babies: it involves destroying life. In the United States, embryos tested for genetic abnormalities such as Down Syndrome, cancer, and other diseases, are usually discarded as PGT-A tests are often used during the IVF process to “ increase the chances of a successful live birth without genetic abnormalities.”
According to Christine Strauss, a fellow of Stanford Law School’s Center for Law and Bioscience, “The United States currently has one of the most permissive regulatory frameworks for PGT-A with no federal or state statutes, legislation or regulations.” Additionally, sex selection or “social sexing” leads to the subsequent disposal of healthy embryos. The National Embryo Donation Center estimates as many as 1.5 million embryos are currently frozen or abandoned across the country.
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The Catholic Church has also signaled its opposition to IVF.
“Acknowledging the dignity of the human person also entails recognizing every dimension of the dignity of the conjugal union and of human procreation,” the Vatican said in April. “Considering this, the legitimate desire to have a child cannot be transformed into a ‘right to a child’ that fails to respect the dignity of that child as the recipient of the gift of life.”