Southern Baptists address the complexity of IVF

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 18th of June, 2024. This is WORLD Radio and we thank you for listening! Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

First up on The World and Everything in It, the ethics of IVF, in vitro fertilization.

At its annual meeting in Indianapolis last week, the Southern Baptist Convention voted on its first-ever resolution on IVF.

It calls on Southern Baptists to affirm the value of the human embryo and only to use reproductive technologies that affirm the dignity of unborn life.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Many headlines say the resolution from the country’s largest protestant denomination opposes IVF. But, according to the voting members at the meeting—also known as messengers—what exactly the resolution means depends upon who you ask.

WORLD’s Leah Savas reports.

LEAH SAVAS: Due to a packed schedule at this year’s SBC meeting, a proposed resolution on IVF almost didn’t make it to a vote. But a motion to consider the resolution kicked off ten minutes of discussion.

Messenger Monica Hall from Oak Grove Baptist Church in Paducah, Kentucky, spoke in favor of the resolution. She and her husband adopted two frozen embryos in 2017.

MONICA HALL: They were created in a lab, frozen, leftover from someone else's IVF cycle, donated, thawed, and then transferred into my womb where they died before I could even hear their hearts beating. Those are chilling phrases to describe a human being created in the image of God. Nothing in the process of IVF upholds the sanctity of life.

Others spoke against the resolution. Daniel Taylor, messenger from Charity Baptist Church in Paris, Michigan, recommended amendments to soften the language. He talked about his close friends who conceived their son through IVF.

DANIEL TAYLOR: The resolution would castigate and condemn the entirely moral and ethical actions of these two friends of mine, calling their faithful sacrifice, struggle, and blessing a wicked thing. It would also unnecessarily make it more difficult for all of us to reach those who have gone through IVF as parents or children.

After the discussion, messengers voted on the resolution.

BART BARBER: As many as are in favor of adopting the resolution, would you indicate by lifting your ballots.

An overwhelming majority raised their orange ballots in support.

BARBER: The ayes have it, and the resolution is adopted.

Daniel Taylor said he cried after the resolution passed. He believes the language leaves no room for the thoughtful approach he says his friends used by giving all their frozen embryos a chance to be born.

DANIEL TAYLOR: My biggest concern about that is that when we say or when we imply no, no, no, don’t ever use IVF, what we’re essentially saying to those people who are going to decide to do so is don't go to your pastor for advice about how you can do it in an ethical way.

But not every Southern Baptist who supports IVF agreed with Taylor’s concerns.

SCOTT MYERS: I didn't think the resolution was problematic.

That’s Scott Myers. He attended the meeting as a messenger from University Park Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. He and his wife have a son conceived through IVF and a frozen embryo that they plan to give birth to later.

MYERS: And I didn't think that it was it was really condemning IVF in the way that some people have said that it is.

In his mind, the resolution simply affirms that it matters how parents and doctors use IVF.

MYERS: It needs to be done in a way that treats the embryos as if they are actually human beings. And I fully agree with that. So, the way that we did IVF, my wife and I, I think is compatible with that.

For one thing, the Myers chose not to genetically screen their embryonic children. Some use genetic testing to weed out embryos that are less likely to survive to birth. Instead, the Myers resolved to give every embryo a chance to be born.

Monica Hall, the woman who spoke in favor of the resolution, says she once believed there was an ethical way to do IVF. But now she doesn’t see any way in which IVF can be ethical.

MONICA HALL: In IVF, you are creating embryos that you know, ahead of time, most of them will die. Is it upholding the sanctity of human life, to create life in a lab in the first place? Or to freeze it?

Hall also doesn’t read the resolution as condemning IVF—although she would like it to. Still, she thinks it’s a step in the right direction.

HALL: We stand by it, we think it's well-written. It’s a good start. I think it's a good start to the conversation.

One of the people who helped start the conversation is Jason Thacker. He’s a senior fellow at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and an advisor to the SBC resolutions committee. Thacker says the purpose of the resolution is not to condemn IVF but to unify the denomination.

JASON THACKER: I think that this conversation highlights that Southern Baptists are agreed upon the basic principles: the dignity of the human embryo, the searing pain of infertility, and also the way that IVF is routinely practiced.

The resolution calls on Southern Baptists to only utilize reproductive technologies consistent with the inherent value of human embryos.

THACKER: And people are going to have some differing opinions on exactly what that means. Does that mean IVF is always and totally wrong? And others might say, maybe there's a more ethical way to use that.

Thacker says the resolution is not binding—it’s just a statement of belief.

THACKER: This isn't now something that Southern Baptist can like, kick people out of their churches, or call them into sin or anything like that, that’s not what the purpose of this document is. The purpose of this document is to highlight where we agree, and to show the moral complexity of these particular artificial reproductive technologies.

Next steps on IVF are up to the messengers and the churches they represent. But for now, this year’s resolution attempts to unite Southern Baptists with opposing views on IVF—and interpretations of what it means to treat human embryos with dignity that look very different in practice.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leah Savas.

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