IVF

Children are a gift, not a product.

Wanting a baby is good. Infertility is real, painful suffering, and if you're living it, we're so sorry. This page explains, as honestly and gently as we can, why we believe IVF is the wrong answer, and what we believe is a better one.

What IVF is.

IVF means “in vitro fertilization”: fertilization “in glass.” A woman takes weeks of hormone injections so her ovaries release many eggs at once, often 10 to 30 instead of one. The eggs are removed with a needle. Sperm is collected, usually by masturbation. In a lab, the eggs and sperm are put together, or a single sperm is injected into each egg. The new embryos grow in a dish for about five days. They're graded on how they look, often tested genetically, and one or two are placed in the mother's womb. The rest are usually frozen.

The best case for IVF.

Here's the strongest version, in fairness. A Christian husband and wife long for children. God told us to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”Genesis 1:28 (ESV) · Read it in context), and the Bible calls children a reward (Psalm 127:3Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.Psalm 127:3 (ESV) · Read it in context). They'll only use their own egg and sperm. If we take heart medicine when our heart fails, why not use medicine to help us have a child we'll raise to love the Lord? That's a sincere argument, and many good Christians make it. Here's why we still believe it's the wrong path.

Fixing the body vs. replacing it.

Using medicine to heal is good. When Jesus healed the blind, he restored what was broken. Surgery to open a blocked tube, or treatment for endometriosis or a hormone problem, does the same thing: it restores the body so a husband and wife can conceive the way God designed. IVF doesn't heal anything. Whatever the cause of infertility, IVF goes around it and replaces the act of love between a husband and wife with a lab procedure. The infertility is still there afterwards.

Received, not made.

Objects are made. We design them, check their quality, keep the good ones and throw away the rest. People are different. A child is meant to be received as a gift that comes from the love of a husband and wife, not made to order by a third party in a lab. IVF can't help treating embryos like products: they're graded like essays (an A-minus, a B-plus), sorted, frozen and discarded. Over time that changes how we think: from “we hope God gives us a child” to “we have a right to a child.” But no one has a right to another person. Every child is a gift, never a possession.

Every embryo is a child.

Life begins at fertilization. That isn't a religious idea; it's basic embryology (see why every life matters). An embryo isn't a potential person. She's a person at the earliest stage of life, with her own DNA, and she will never exist again. That's why what happens to embryos in IVF matters so much:

• Most embryos created never become a baby

  Only about 3 to 5 of every 100 eggs collected for IVF become a baby. Even for women under 35, about half don't have a baby from one round of egg collection, and for women over 42 it's about 1 in 25.

  Sources: Sabbagh et al., Fertil Steril 2023 · SART 2023 national data

• Many are frozen, some indefinitely

  No one officially counts frozen embryos in the US. The only real survey found nearly 400,000 in 2002. Many estimates today are far higher, though none shows its method. Clinics may discard embryos left unclaimed for years.

  Sources: Hoffman et al., Fertil Steril 2003 (SART/RAND survey)

• Many are tested and discarded

  Around half of US IVF cycles now test embryos' chromosomes and discard those labelled “abnormal.” Yet the largest trial found the testing didn't increase births, and some embryos labs might have discarded have been born healthy.

  Sources: Yan et al., NEJM 2021 · Capalbo et al., Am J Hum Genet 2021

• Some babies are aborted when “too many” implant

  When more than one embryo implants, doctors may offer to “reduce” the pregnancy by ending one or more babies' lives. US guidance permits reducing twins to one for “financial, social, or emotional” reasons.

  Sources: ACOG Committee Opinion 719 (2017)

A former IVF lab director describes the moment he left: he was made to leave a patient's “extra” embryos in a dish until they died. They were then thrown out with the medical waste.

Sources: Turczynski et al., Linacre Q 2022

The cost to mothers and children.

• For mothers

  The hormones can cause ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, which has historically affected about 1 to 5 in 100 cycles at moderate or severe levels. Some frozen-embryo methods raise the risk of pre-eclampsia.

  Sources: ASRM OHSS guideline (2023) · Wei et al., BMJ 2026 (randomised trial)

• For children

  Injecting sperm directly into the egg is linked to more birth defects, even after accounting for factors in the parents. Some rare genetic conditions are several times more common after IVF, though still under 1 in 1,000.

  Sources: Davies et al., NEJM 2012 · Cortessis et al., J Assist Reprod Genet 2018

• For donors and surrogates

  There's no national US limit on how many children one donor can father. One donor in the Netherlands fathered an estimated 550 to 600. And donor anonymity can no longer be promised: DNA tests now let donor-conceived people find their biological families.

  Sources: BBC News, 2023 (Dutch donor, 550-600 children)

An industry, not just medicine.

IVF is big business. One cycle costs $12,000 to $25,000. Clinics linked to private equity firms performed more than half of US IVF cycles in 2023, up from about 1 in 8 a decade earlier. When the customer is paying for a baby, it's hard for a clinic to say “maybe you shouldn't.”

Sources: Executive Order 14216 (White House, 2025) · Ke et al., JAMA 2026

Choosing which children live: the new eugenics.

Eugenics is the old idea that humanity can be improved by deciding who should be born. In the last century it led to forced sterilizations across America, upheld by the Supreme Court in 1927, and the world later turned away in horror. IVF is quietly bringing it back. Because children are conceived in a lab, they can be tested and sorted before any of them is given the chance to live:

• Sorting by chromosomes

  Embryos labelled “abnormal” are discarded, even though the testing hasn't been shown to increase births.

• Choosing boys or girls

  No US state bans choosing a baby's sex, and most clinics surveyed offered it.

• Choosing traits

  Companies now sell embryo “scores” for intelligence, height and even eye color. One advertises “IQ +10.8 IQ points” and “Height +3.1 inches taller” when choosing from five embryos; its CEO calls it “genetic optimization.” Leading reproductive-medicine and genetics societies in the US and Europe say this should not be offered, and independent estimates put the real gain far lower.

Every child “selected” means other children who weren't. A former IVF doctor, Lauren Rubal, warns that this path “will ultimately become just frank eugenics.” She recalls hearing an embryologist predict that one day “all reproduction will be done with technology and sex will just be recreational.” But children aren't products to be chosen for quality. Every one of them, healthy or sick, boy or girl, bears the image of God (Genesis 1:27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.Genesis 1:27 (ESV) · Read it in context).

Sources: Buck v. Bell (1927) · Capelouto et al., J Assist Reprod Genet 2018 · Nucleus Embryo (company site) · NPR, “These companies help parents try to pick their babies' traits” (2026) · ASRM Ethics Committee opinion on PGT-P (Dec 2025) · Live Action, Face to Face (2025)

A better way: restorative reproductive medicine.

Restorative reproductive medicine (RRM) works with the body instead of bypassing it. A doctor helps a woman chart her cycle, times blood tests to it, and looks for the causes of infertility: ovulation problems, thyroid, PCOS, endometriosis, low progesterone. The husband is checked too. Then they treat what they find, with medicine or surgery, so the couple can conceive naturally.

• It treats the cause

  Couples get answers about their bodies, and problems like endometriosis, thyroid disease or low progesterone get treated, whether or not a pregnancy follows.

• No embryos are lost

  Every child is conceived the way God designed, in the love of husband and wife.

• It costs far less

  One clinic in Ireland charges about €2,300 for up to a year of care, plus medicines, compared with $12,000 to $25,000 for one IVF cycle in the US.

We want to be honest: RRM hasn't been tested head-to-head against IVF, and it can't fix everything, such as tubes that can't be repaired or the effects of age. Clinic studies report many couples having babies, but those studies can't give reliable success rates. It's not a guarantee. It's a way to seek a child without risking any child's life.

Sources: Ganci et al., Fertil Steril 2026 (systematic review) · NeoFertility (Dublin) clinic pricing

When a baby doesn't come.

Some couples try everything and still don't conceive. That grief is real, and God sees it. Hannah “prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly” (1 Samuel 1:10She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly.1 Samuel 1:10 (ESV) · Read it in context). Many couples find that God brings them children through adoption or fostering. Others find a different kind of fruitfulness, pouring their love into spiritual children, their church and their community. And it can help to ask honestly: has having a child become the thing I can't live without? God can carry that longing, and he is enough, even when the answer isn't what we hoped (Matthew 6:33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.Matthew 6:33 (ESV) · Read it in context).

If you've used IVF.

You wanted a child, which is a good desire, and you may not have known what you were agreeing to. Many parents say no one told them they might end up with ten or more frozen embryos and impossible choices. Whatever you feel now, start with mercy. When Jesus met a woman everyone wanted to condemn, he said: “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more” (John 8:10–11Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]John 8:10–11 (ESV) · Read it in context). Peter denied Jesus three times, and Jesus restored him and gave him work to do (John 21:15–17When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.John 21:15–17 (ESV) · Read it in context). Your story isn't over.

One IVF mother put it simply: it “gave me great joy and great pain.” Some parents who regret IVF now tell their story so others can choose differently.

If you have embryos in the freezer

You already know how heavy this is. Two IVF mothers spoke about it honestly on Live Action's Face to Face. Katie and her husband decided to transfer their last four embryos: “These are our children… we're the parents and we need to save them… from eternity in cryopreservation.” Two miscarried, and two didn't survive thawing. It was sad, Katie says, but they wanted to give their children a chance at life.

Erica plans to place her embryos for adoption with another family, and she's found it far harder than she expected: “You would think there's so many embryos… anyone that wants one should be able to get one, but it's really not that easy.” Matching a family who wants to adopt with a family who wants to place embryos “is really difficult.” Every month the storage bill reminds her: “This is the rest of my life.”

• They're your children

  Please don't donate them for research or ask for them to be destroyed.

• Their own mother, if possible

  If you're able, transferring them to their own mother gives them the chance at life they were made for. Many Christians believe this is the best path, even when it's hard.

• Adoption by another family

  This can give them a chance at life too, but be ready for it to take time and patience.

• You don't have to carry this alone

  Christians disagree about some of these questions. Pray, talk with your pastor, and let your church walk with you.

Quotes are lightly edited from the video's captions for reading.

Sources: Live Action, Face to Face (2025)

If you were conceived through IVF.

We're so glad you're alive. Truly. Your life is a gift, and the world is better with you in it.

God knew you before anyone saw you (Jeremiah 1:5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV) · Read it in context). He made you on purpose, with a purpose, and he loves you completely. You aren't a product of a lab. You're a person, fully human, made in God's image, with exactly the same worth as anyone who has ever lived.

When we say IVF should end, we're talking about a method, never about you. Wanting a practice to stop is no judgment on the people who came from it. We'd say the same about any way a child comes into the world that shouldn't have happened, and we'd celebrate that child just as much. Your existence isn't the problem. You're the good.

If thinking about this stirs up hard feelings, about brothers or sisters who were frozen or lost, or about how you came to be, that's okay. God is big enough for those questions, and so is his church. Some people conceived through IVF now speak up about it, not because they wish they weren't here, but because they love the siblings who never got their chance.

God brings good even out of things that never should have happened (Romans 8:28And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.Romans 8:28 (ESV) · Read it in context). Jesus welcomes every child (Mark 10:14But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.Mark 10:14 (ESV) · Read it in context), and he welcomes you.