IVF and Abortion

The Alabama Supreme Court decision on in vitro fertilization (IVF) has spawned a nationwide discussion on what we know about, and how we should understand, the beginning of a human life.

With an article in the Deseret News, Emily Zanotti notes that “IVF presents some of the same moral concerns that abortion does – namely, that life is viewed as disposable simply because of its early stage of development. In abortion, a pregnancy is ended; in IVF, a new life is created, often just to be destroyed.”

Writing from a position of personal experience, including being Catholic, Zanotti posits that this issue isn’t just a Catholic one by quoting Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who said: “The hard thing is that many who consider themselves pro-life have refused to extend their own logic to the huge moral crisis posed by IVF procedures. The blunt and unavoidable question is this, do pro-lifers really believe what they say? Do we really believe that unborn children are children? If not, then we’ve been lying to ourselves and to everyone else. But if we really do believe this, how do we reckon with the fact that there are millions of frozen children locked in indefinite freeze and destined for destruction due to IVF procedures?”

For those of us endeavoring to build a culture of life in our society, the comment section of the article is a “goldmine” of arguments of one sort or another, whether pro-life or otherwise. Reviewing such arguments is a great aid in educating ourselves in how to respond to such arguments.

I encourage you to read the article. Also, scan the comments and consider how you would respond to some of the questions raised by the commentators.