More Than Medicine
More Than Medicine
Navigating the Ethical Landscape of IVF: A Christian Perspective with Dr. Robert Jackson
Is in vitro fertilization (IVF) ethically justifiable from a Christian perspective? Join us for a thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Robert Jackson as we navigate the complex moral landscape surrounding IVF. Dr. Jackson delves into the Southern Baptist Convention's stance, emphasizing the sacred belief that unborn children are human beings created in God's image. We tackle tough questions about the creation and destruction of embryos, the practice of selective reduction, and the troubling implications of deeming embryos "defective." This episode is a deep dive into the sanctity of human life at all developmental stages, urging listeners to consider the profound ethical dilemmas tied to IVF.
As we conclude our discussion, we extend a warm invitation for you to connect further with Dr. Robert Jackson and the Jackson Family Ministry. Learn more about Dr. Jackson's enlightening books, schedule a speaking engagement, and stay updated with future podcast episodes through our social media platforms and website. Your support means the world to us, and we encourage you to share this episode with your community. We end with a heartfelt blessing, wishing you peace and well-being until we meet again in our next episode of "More Than Medicine.
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Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, dr Robert Jackson, and his wife Carlotta and daughter Hannah Miller. So listen up, because the doctor is in.
Speaker 2:Welcome to More Than Medicine. I'm your host, dr Robert Jackson, bringing to you biblical insights and stories from the country doctor's rusty, dusty scrapbook. Well, I mentioned to you at our last podcast that I would bring to you some information about in vitro fertilization, about in vitro fertilization, as we discussed in the last podcast. The Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution, which, of course, is non-binding, but it is worthy of note that the convention passed a resolution that their members, the members of the convention, should proceed with caution when they involve themselves with the technique, the technology, of in vitro fertilization. Now, why is that and why should Christian folks proceed with caution when they involve themselves with the techniques and technology of in vitro fertilization? Well, I want to title this message today Children as Commodities. And as we go forward, you will understand why.
Speaker 2:There's a hard issue that needs to be understood as we discuss the technology of in vitro fertilization, and many who consider themselves to be pro-life have refused to extend their own logic to the huge moral crisis that is posed by in vitro fertilization procedures. The unavoidable question is this do pro-lifers really believe that unborn children are human beings, created by God and created in the image of God? Now, if they don't believe that, then they the mother's womb, unborn children in the mother's womb are in fact human beings, created in the image of God and sacred in the economy of God. Then how do we come to grips with the millions of frozen embryos locked in a frozen hell, a cryogenic hell, and destined for destruction due to the in vitro fertilization procedures? Now I'm quoting Al Mohler here. He is the president of Southeastern Seminary and 20 years ago he wrote a major essay raising some of these issues amongst evangelicals and he published a book on in vitro fertilization issues. His arguments caused a huge uproar and he was reminded, quite unforgettably, that many evangelical Christians do not want some issues to be addressed, and one of those issues is this whole issue about in vitro fertilization.
Speaker 2:Now, I understand the desire for infertile couples to have a baby, and we honor that desire, because God himself is the one who told us to be fruitful and multiply. But I'm here to tell you that in vitro fertilization technology requires the moral alienation of certain goods that God intended to come together. And what is that? Well, it's a man plus a woman, plus marriage, and that's the right context for children to emerge with no moral complications. And I'm quoting Dr Moeller when I say that, and we all understand that that's biblically correct. Any alienation from that context brings certain moral risk.
Speaker 2:Now I want to talk to you a little bit about in vitro fertilization. I won't be overly technical because I realize you're not a medical audience. So how does in vitro fertilization work? What happens is a sperm and an egg from the parents are joined together artificially in a petri dish. An embryo thereby is created. It's observed for defects. Those that have a defect are destroyed. So you have your first issue right there, because what's happening is, when I say destroyed, that means a nascent human life is being destroyed because it is deficient in some way. And when I say destroyed, that means an abortion, because we, as God-fearing, right-thinking Christian people, understand that that embryo represents a human life. Well then, three or four of the selected embryos are then placed in the mother's womb in the uterus. The rest are cryogenically preserved.
Speaker 2:So what could possibly go wrong with this scenario? Well, I want to present to you four possibilities. In the petri dish, an embryo deemed to be defective is destroyed or aborted. So that's the first issue that I have with in vitro fertilization. Remember, an embryo is a human life. Remember the Alabama Supreme Court decision that was recently handed down in Alabama. If you remember the Alabama decision that said that unborn children are children without exception, based on developmental stage, physical location or any other ancillary characteristic, without exception. And it does not depend on their developmental stage, doesn't depend on their physical location or any other ancillary characteristic. And the Supreme Court Justice, jay Mitchell, stated all parties to these cases, like all members of this court, agreed that an unborn child is a genetically unique human being whose life begins at fertilization and ends in death. So there you have it. That was a decision of the Alabama Supreme Court and that sent out shockwaves throughout the liberal media.
Speaker 2:The second thing I want to point out to you is that then there is the issue of what is called selective reduction, whereby fertility specialists insist that additional embryos greater than two be reduced, in other words aborted, in order to increase the odds of survival of the remaining embryos. The industry practice is that multiple embryos are placed into the mother's womb, sometimes three, sometimes four. These are followed by ultrasound, and then the doctors will selectively reduce one, two or even three of the embryos, leaving only one or two in the mother's womb. Now, at first glance that's logical, isn't it? In order to increase the death of one or more embryos, who are actually very small human beings. Remember what Horton taught us in Horton Hears a Hue, dr Seuss's children's book. Horton said a person is a person, no matter how small. We teach that to our children. We should remind ourselves of that truth every day.
Speaker 2:Selective reduction is the in vitro fertility industry standard practice, and every couple is required to sign a document in advance agreeing to this barbaric, life-destroying practice. Barbaric life-destroying practice. For the sake of maximizing their investment and increasing the likelihood of a living baby, intended parents routinely implant multiple embryos and selectively reduce interpret that to mean abortion the unwanted children during the first and second trimester, even if the embryos are in perfect health. That word reduction is a sanitized way of saying injecting potassium chloride into the heart of the unwanted child or children so that they shrivel up and die next to the selected sibling. Oh, my goodness, what have we come to in the practice of medicine when intended parents are paying six figures for a child? Abortion serves as both quantity and quality control.
Speaker 2:Well, let's look at a third issue, and this issue is the issue of surplus embryos. For you see, what do you do with the frozen embryos that were created in the petri dish in the very beginning. Surplus embryos, in other words, human beings in a quantity greater than needed. What a monstrous notion. Human lives in a greater quantity than needed. How in our collective right minds have we come to use such a term without recoiling in horror?
Speaker 2:Children should never be frozen in storage, or discarded or donated. Let's talk about this a little bit more. You see, only a small minority of lab-conceived babies are actually born alive only 7.5%, according to one study. Many perish as a result of failed implantation. It's an empty solace, but at least those babies die in the warmth of a mother's womb. Many others aren't so fortunate. Backup petri dish embryos are cryogenically frozen and many wait for years for their chance in the sun. Some never escape. In the United States alone there are an estimated estimated one million souls on ice awaiting their shot at implantation.
Speaker 2:The fertility clinic freezers also store hundreds of thousands of surplus embryos. One clinician estimates 21% of the frozen embryos housed at his clinic alone have been abandoned by their parents, whether abandoned or the property of parents willing to expend $500 to $1,000 each year to maintain their suspended state. Almost all surplus embryos are destined for a bleak end. According to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. Parents with surplus embryos have three options, none of which honors children's rights. Their options include listen to this now, thaw and discard, donate to research or donate to other intended parents. Of course, that would be anonymously or maybe even directly. One survey found 82% of parents plan to use their frozen embryos in future pregnancy attempts when presented with embryo disposition options. When presented with embryo disposition options, parents' responses overlapped 79% aren't sure if they want more children, but will continue with storage. 29% plan to donate their surplus embryos to research and 14% plan to discard the embryos, and 13% are open to donating their embryos to other families.
Speaker 2:Now listen, born or unborn. We believe that these embryos are human beings deserving of respect, whose rights should be acknowledged and protected. I'm just hard-pressed to imagine anything more dehumanizing than the phrase thaw and discard. It appears from the few couples willing to choose the discard option for their surplus embryos that most parents agree with that statement. That most parents agree with that statement. The overwhelming percentage of adults surveyed chose to continue storing their surplus embryos. Their reluctance to discard their frozen babies probably stems from the fact that they're delighting in the full genetic sibling of those frozen embryos that's eating toast at their breakfast table.
Speaker 2:There's no doubt parents in this situation are keenly aware that the passage of time is the only difference between their crumb-crunching first grader and their freezer-bound babies. Well, there's a lot to think about in all of these situations, but I'm just saying to you that there's a crisis with all of these quote surplus embryos and this whole idea of parents storing their children for decades and maybe never even coming back to rescue their children, and maybe never even coming back to rescue their children. And then there's the whole notion of maybe adopting, allowing these children to be adopted by complete strangers, and how does that affect the children? Let me just read a quote to you of a young woman whose embryo was donated to another couple, to a stranger couple, and she grew up after being adopted by a stranger couple and here she was being treated as a commodity. Now, that's why I entitled this whole lesson Children as Commodities. Now, this was her perspective when she grew up.
Speaker 2:Now, no doubt she was grateful that she was given a chance at life rather than being left in a freezer as an embryo. But listen to her story. She said to be raised by two persons who you were once cells of, by a woman who you bonded with when growing in her tummy. To be birthed into the world to both these creators and to be made not from cash but from mutual love from all parties, and to be able to look into the mirror and have your daddy's eyes, mommy's nose and a compromised height. To have playmates to grow up with who look like you and share your creators, and be loved in a family where genetics and affection unite us together and separate us from the rest of the world. To be loved by the two who created you and not from the strangers who bought you is natural and beautiful. But I was denied this primal family structure to support a business and an unfamiliar infertile couple. Those are strong words, but that was the attitude of a young lady who found out eventually that she was bought as a commodity when she was an embryo, rescued from a cryogenic hell and then sold as a commodity. So you see, there's a primal wound in this young lady's life that will probably never be healed, and I'm saying this to you, moms and dads out there who have your own embryos in that cryogenic freezer. You need to think about this, you need to understand the emotional dynamics, and these are issues that Christian people in particular need to wrestle with.
Speaker 2:And then, number four I want to speak to this issue. There's the whole issue of donor sperm and eggs. That bring its own risk. You see, in vitro fertilization furthers that risk by alienating the gift of life from the conjugal act. At the very least, the same technology that can allow a heartbroken young married couple the promise of pregnancy and a baby can, with donor egg and sperm, be used by a same-sex couple or even a single woman to have a baby. A single man or a male couple can hire a surrogate to have the baby for them. Thanks to in vitro fertilization, the entire process can now be made into a market for babies as commodities, with sperm and eggs and embryos and rented wombs available in a dark market. And all of that raises issues with which the Christian community needs to wrestle.
Speaker 2:And then, lastly, I want to say this Christians welcome every human life, every single baby, and we celebrate that life. The baby is a moral good, a person made in God's image. But we must understand that not every technology or medical procedure, or even every sexual act is made legitimate simply because it leads to the production of a baby. For Christians, the moral risk is greatly lowered by using only egg and sperm from the husband and wife and by transferring all embryos to the womb, perhaps in successive pregnancies, with none abandoned and none reduced. Now I want to say that again, for Christians, the moral risk is greatly lowered by using only egg and sperm from the husband and wife, egg and sperm from the husband and wife, and by transferring all embryos to the womb, with none abandoned and none reduced.
Speaker 2:Nobody said this issue was easy or unemotional, but Alabama's highest court has just put it on the nation's agenda and it falls squarely on the Christian conscience. The reasoning of that court is unassailable. You see, a human embryo is a human being, wherever that embryo may be found. And if that's not true, brothers and sisters, the pro-life movement has been lying to themselves and to the greater community for a long time. And if it is true and, brothers and sisters, it is very, very true then evangelicals had better make certain our affirmation of human dignity and the sanctity of human life is very clear All unborn children are human beings, created in the image of God and sacrosanct in the economy of God. Remember what Horton said a person is a person, no matter how small You're listening to More Than Medicine. I'm your host, dr Robert Jackson. If you like what you hear, I pray that you would share it with your friends, that you'd like it, that you'd download it and we'll be back again next week. May the Lord bless you. Real good.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry, dr Jackson's books, or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, instagram or their webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. This podcast is produced by Bob Sloan Audio Production at bobsloancom.
