The church and the embryo

“Sex is for fun, and embryo screening is for babies.”

Thus spoke Noor Siddiqui, founder of Orchid, a company that genetically screens human embryos. She added that, “It’s going to become insane not to screen for these things.” As The New York Times explained, this “presumably refers to conditions like obesity and autism, both of which Orchid says it can screen for. What she and others who run screening companies tend to talk about even less is that such things could also include traits like intellectual ability and height.” Welcome to the world of designer babies.

This story caused quite a stir. It followed a piece on research that uses human embryos, and both the reporting and the response to this series demonstrate that many, even on the secular left, are troubled by this brave new world. Though they refuse to view human embryos as persons, they are also disconcerted by treating them as disposable research material. They are likewise troubled by the possibility of mass eugenic embryo screening, a prospect that vindicates C.S. Lewis’ observation that the scientific control of man over himself really means the control of some men by other men. And they have noticed that the IVF industry is largely unregulated and unaccountable.

The discomfort this induces ought to give Christians an opportunity to witness to the value of every human life. And some have stepped up to explain that this eugenic approach is both evil in itself and evil in its secondary effects. Unfortunately, American evangelicals have crippled their ability to make this case by embracing in vitro fertilization (IVF). Many pro-life Christians who boldly proclaim that human life begins at conception fall silent when the topic turns to IVF. They may be horrified at the prospect of designer babies, but the hard truth is that if Christians do not defend embryonic human life when it comes to “ordinary” IVF, we won't be able to defend human life against IVF with extra eugenics added on.

After all, IVF as it is ordinarily practiced in America creates extra embryos that are eventually destroyed. It is already routine for IVF clinics to monitor embryos in order to select the “best” ones, and sex selection and screening for various genetic conditions are also routinely offered. As The New York Times noted, “some form of preimplantation genetic testing, or P.G.T,, is used in over half of I.V.F. cycles in the United States.”

Adding some extra eugenics via polygenetic risk scoring may have more of an “ick” factor, but it is not significantly different morally. If existing forms of embryo screening (and the subsequent destruction of those selected against) are acceptable, then so are these new methods that promise to do an even better job of providing parents with just the baby they want. And if the latest developments are wrong, then so are the already-standard IVF practices that American evangelicals have largely kept quiet about.

This was a sinful omission. IVF, as practiced, destroys human embryos on a vast scale. And Christianity is clear—the embryo is my neighbor. The Gospel of Luke makes the personhood of human embryos clear by showing us the personhood of Jesus even as an embryo.

The hard truth is that most evangelical leaders have not done their duty to God, their congregations, and the world around them. IVF implicates matters of life, marriage, and family that the church must speak to, but as Emma Waters reported last year, most theologically conservative Protestant denominations have avoided the issue. This includes, alas, my own denomination, the PCA, which has not provided members with guidance about IVF.

This failure of American evangelicalism was partly rectified by the Southern Baptists last year when they adopted a resolution opposing the destruction of human embryos as part of IVF and urging serious reflection on IVF in itself. After all, even an IVF approach that does not create and then destroy “extra” human embryos still commodifies human beings, manufacturing them as objects, rather than begetting them as persons. Evangelicals must weigh this objectification of persons carefully, and we certainly must condemn and avoid the intentional destruction of innocent human persons, including embryos.

But most conservative Protestant denominations, let alone the multitude of nondenominational congregations, have tried to dodge the issue. And there is an obvious reason for this: IVF is popular, and many churches have members who have used it, in many cases without regard for the fate of “excess” embryos. Taking a stand on IVF—even only to say that human embryos should not be destroyed—would mean calling people to repentance in ways that will be difficult and painful. But a church that won’t do that risks becoming merely a Jesus-branded social club.