The World and Everything in It: September 23, 2025

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Israel’s allies recognize a Palestinian state, but is it mere symbolism?

And Rosh Hashanah began last night.

From Jerusalem, prayers for the new year

FRANCO: … praying for a good Rosh Hashanah, a good new year, bringing all the hostages home, and keeping everyone safe.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel back from suspension.

And later, a professor turned musician wrestling with heartbreak and faith—his latest album takes it all on

OGLESBY: I lost the girl, I lost the dough, and so far the path is not leading to milk and honey.

BROWN: It’s Tuesday, September 23rd. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

BROWN: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: UN General Assembly » President Trump is in New York this morning, where he is set to address world leaders at the UN General Assembly.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt:

LEAVITT:  The president will also be hosting bilateral meetings with the UN Secretary General and the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina, and the European Union.

Trade and the war in Ukraine are likely to be key topics in those meetings.

Leavitt said the president also has meetings planned with leaders from numerous Middle Eastern countries.

The war in Gaza and Palestinian statehood is likely to dominate those talks.

UN special conference on two-state solution » And at UN headquarters on Monday, France and Saudi Arabia chaired a high-profile meeting to galvanize support for a so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

That comes with a growing number of nations saying they will formally recognize a Palestinian state.

Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour:

MANSOUR:  This is historic, especially when countries like France, UK, and the others to recognize the state of Palestine. It's an investment in peace and saving the two-state solution.

But Israel and the U.S. argue recognizing a Palestinian state now would reward terrorist acts by Hamas and others.

Tiktok deal » The White House says President Trump will sign an agreement this week, sealing a deal to bring TikTok’s U.S. operations under American control.

Karoline Leavitt says TikTok, within the U.S., will be owned by a majority of American investors.

She says Oracle will serve as the security provider for the social media platform and all US user data will be stored on servers in the United States:

LEAVITT:  Protected from surveillance or interference by foreign adversaries. And the algorithm wIll be secured, retrained, retrained, and operated in the United States outside of ByteDance’s control.

ByteDance is the Chinese company that currently owns TikTok and would still hold a minority stake, but no control.

No official word yet on a price tag, or which companies will form the new ownership group

H1B visas » Any U.S. company looking to hire and bring a foreign worker into the country must now pay a $100,000 visa application fee per person.

President Trump signed a proclamation on Friday, enacting that fee on H-1B visas, effective this week.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained:

LUTNICK: No more will these big tech companies or other big companies train foreign workers. If you're going to train somebody, Train Americans, stop bringing in people to take our jobs.

An H-1B visa allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers with specialized skills and a bachelor’s degree or equivalent. The White House said the new fee will not impact current visa holders or visa applications submitted before Sunday.

HHS event on autism » The Trump administration is linking the use of Tylenol by pregnant women to a rise in autism.

An autism action plan by the White House points to a review of dozens of studies in suggesting a possible link.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told reporters:

KENNEDY:  The FDA will issue a physician's notice about the risk of acetaminophen during pregnancy and begin the process to initiate a safety label change.

Acetaminophen is the generic name of the drug, best known as Tylenol.

Many researchers stress the evidence is mixed — showing correlation, not causation — meaning it doesn’t prove acetaminophen raises autism risk.

Tylenol manufacturer Kenvue went a step further Monday, saying in a statement that acetaminophen is the safest pain reliever for pregnant women.

Theology survey » Many evangelicals may be confused about some gospel truths according to a new survey. WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher has more.

BENJAMIN EICHER: Ligonier Ministries questioned well over 600 self-identified evangelicals in its 2025 State of Theology survey.

And the ministry says the results show some misalignment with Scripture especially as it pertains to the fallen and sinful nature of man.

Over half of those respondents said they believe everyone sins a little but most people are good by nature.

More than 60% said they believe everyone is innocent in the eyes of God.

Nearly half said they believe God accepts the worship of all religions.

But the vast majority of evangelical respondents agreed that there is one true God, that He is perfect, and that only Jesus’ sacrifice could secure our salvation.

Nearly all agreed that the Bible is the highest authority.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Western countries recognize a Palestinian state. Plus, Jimmy Kimmel, free speech, and FCC regulations.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 23rd of September.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

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

First up, Palestinian statehood.

SOUND: [Bell chiming at UN Summit]

On Monday, France joined the United Kingdom, Canada, and other Western nations in formally recognizing a state of Palestine.

MACRON (French): It is also in this framework that I could decide to establish an embassy with the State of Palestine, as soon as all the hostages held in Gaza have been freed and a ceasefire has been established. France's demands on Israel will be no less great.

French President Emmanuel Macron saying his nation would establish an embassy to Palestine but that there are conditions: the embassy will open after Hamas disarms and after it releases hostages, and after Israel declares an immediate cease-fire.

BROWN: One day earlier, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese explained his country’s change in position.

ALBANESE: This is the best chance the world has had in decades to disarm and isolate Hamas and deliver self-determination for the people of Palestine.

Great Britain and others also expect the Palestinian Authority to clean house and hold elections within one year after a cease-fire.

EICHER: The U.S. and Israel boycotted Monday’s two-state summit.

GOLDBERG: This is a political statement. It's a political move.

BROWN: Richard Goldberg is a senior advisor for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former member of the National Security Council staff. He spoke with our Washington producer Harrison Watters.

GOLDBERG: It's supposed to put some sort of pressure on Israel, reward the Palestinians and and, you know, evoke some response that's positive to their own domestic base.

EICHER: For decades, the UK and other Western nations joined the U.S. in supporting the idea of a two-state solution, watchful that Palestinian statehood could come only with Israel’s security assured. Britain, France, and others have long been strategic trade and military allies. But with shifting political winds at home, Goldberg says support for Israel no longer carries the same weight.

BROWN: Goldberg says that before the idea of a functioning state can go forward, Palestinians need to show they can govern themselves.

GOLDBERG: Nothing has been done to warrant the recognition of a Palestinian state. Certainly it feels like rewarding Hamas for October 7 still.

BROWN: That’s the US position. Last month, the U.S. State Department blocked visas for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and dozens of other Palestinian officials to travel to New York.

GOLDBERG: What the Trump administration has said is, first of all, there's not state actors. They're not heads of state. So there's no head of state exception, you know, pursuant to the UN Headquarters treaty that we are supposed to acknowledge and abide by, by hosting the United Nations in New York, you don't have any right to be here.

EICHER: So the General Assembly voted to invite Abbas to address the UN by video. For Palestinian Christians, the growing number of countries that recognize a state of Palestine is more symbolic than substantive.

ABRAHAM: It would mean much more if we get recognized by the, the global church, rather than the global states.

BROWN: Fares [Ferris] Abraham is a Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem living in the US. Abraham says Palestinian Christians are often overlooked when Western nations consider policies in the region.

EICHER: Abraham complains that after the Hamas attacks on October 7th, Christians around the world stood in solidarity with the Jewish people. But not so much for Palestinian Christians caught in the crossfire.

ABRAHAM: Fast forward two years, and the silence of the same churches and the same leaders is deafening, and to them, it doesn't seem that Palestinian Christians exist.

BROWN: As diplomats meet in New York, policy expert Richard Goldberg is skeptical of any breakthroughs happening this year.

GOLDBERG: I think we actually also are at a moment where we question the integrity of the UN system right now and its lack of neutrality in a conflict between a member of the United Nations, a democracy in the State of Israel, and a terrorist organization.

Fares Abraham says true peace will come from God and Christians have the opportunity to help.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: prayers for peace.

At sundown last night, Jewish communities around the world began a celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year.

In Jerusalem, that means prayer and reflection at the Western Wall. WORLD’s Travis Kircher was there to hear the voices of those who gathered.

SOUND: [PRAYERS AT WESTERN WALL]

TRAVIS KIRCHER: Crowds slowly gathered at the Western Wall in Jerusalem Sunday afternoon, ahead of the evening’s selichot prayers, prayers for forgiveness. As Aron Jofen says, it’s the last chance to repent before Rosh Hashanah.

JOFEN: That day everybody is coming close. Everybody is coming begging for forgiveness, for God to help them. To help them get better mans, to get closer. And they want to be closer. They love Him.

Jews believe Rosh Hashanah marks the day Adam was created in the Garden of Eden,.and thus is the birthday, not just of the Jews, but of the entire human race.

WEISS: It’s a holiday, a two-day holiday.

Shmuli Weiss is a rabbi in Jerusalem. He says Rosh Hashanah is both a celebration of new beginnings and a time of judgment.

WEISS: It’s observed by mainly praying and listening to the blowing the shofar. A shofar is a ram’s horn. We blow it to waken up ourselves to realize that Hashem is in charge…

“Hashem,” means “the name” referring to the God of the Old Testament.

For some, like Ohad Damari, preparing for Rosh Hashanah is a sobering experience. He says this year, things just don’t feel right.

DAMARI: I feel that this place is not what it should be right now. We see this wall now and it’s not in its full glory and I wish to be there on the day where I can see God’s full glory here and fully built – the third temple.

Most everyone at the Wall has something they’re praying for, even those in the military. Elisha Franco of an Israeli Defense Forces combat engineering unit sums it up well:

FRANCO: I’m praying for a good Rosh Hashanah, a good new year, a sweet new year, bringing all the hostages home and keeping everyone safe.

SOUND: [PRAYER SERVICE]

But there are other prayers too. When I asked several religious Jews what’s on their wish list this year, there’s one word that kept popping up:

BERG: Really, for Mashiach to come.

POGORELSKY: I hope that Mashiach will come… ]

HOFFSTATTER: Mashiach. Just Mashiach.

Mashiach, or Messiah. While Christians say He’s already come, many practicing Jews are still looking.

POGORELSKY: Our redeemer will come very soon and all the problems in the world will finish. All the wars and all the illness and hungry and all the problems will disappear and we’ll have the redemption!

But among the worshippers at the wall are also followers of Yeshua, Jesus. Like Rivo Rajundo of Estonia. Rajundo says he loves the Jewish people and he’s praying more come to know Christ as their Mashiach.

RAJUNDO: I’m hoping for their awakening, but knowing at the same time that it has like the appointed time of this.

And so as many are striving to better themselves before God for this new year by obeying the rules, Rajundo is resting in grace.

RAJUNDO: The believers in Yeshua do not need to obey all of the halakha or all the Mosaic law in this way as it’s written in the Old Testament because Yeshua has done it for us already, but if we are in the Spirit—in the Holy Spirit—we are obeying it.

Reporting for WORLD I’m Travis Kircher at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made comments less than two weeks ago that may go down as among the most expensive pieces of free-speech to air on network TV.

KIMMEL: We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.

The comments drew fire not only from conservative activists, but from Washington. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr called it “truly sick conduct” and warned ABC it needed to rein in Kimmel or else. The audio from the Benny Johnson podcast.

CARR: But frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, look, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel or, you know, there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: The suspension began after several large network affiliates dropped Kimmel’s show. And with the FCC chairman warning that the licenses of ABC affiliates could be on the line the pressure mounted.

EICHER: Supporters of Kimmel called it government censorship … critics pointed to a 1927 law that requires broadcast stations to operate “in the public interest.”

Disney—which owns ABC—announced yesterday that after some “meaningful conversations” with the host … Kimmel will be back starting tonight.

BROWN: Joining us now to talk about it is Michael Farris, general counsel for the National Religious Broadcasters. Good morning Michael.

MICHAEL FARRIS: It’s great to be with you. Thank you so much.

BROWN: Thank you for being here. You know, this story is filled with larger-than-life personalities, and all the media attention has certainly blown it up. Would you help us think through what’s most important.

FARRIS: The starting point for thinking through these issues is the First Amendment. The First Amendment only binds the government. The government cannot interfere with freedom of speech. Now it's also important to know that speech concerning violence is not necessarily protected, but in general terms, ABC or any other employer can decide to hire somebody or fire somebody if they don't like what they're saying.

Now we have the situation where President Trump and the chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, both made comments that were efforts to urge ABC to take action against Jimmy Kimmel. And you know, at first blush, this seems to present a problem, because both of them are, in fact, government agents. And should the government be allowed to encourage a private employer to silence somebody because the people operating the government don't like the speech involved?

Well, the Supreme Court took up a case in the last cycle about this very issue. It arose from the Biden administration's meetings it had with Facebook, Twitter, other social media organizations where the Biden administration regularly said, silence this voice. Let this voice be heard. Silence this message. They were clearly pressuring the social media agencies to stop people from speaking.

Now I filed an amicus brief for National Religious Broadcasters, taking the position that it is improper for the government to ever, when we're talking about protected speech, to ever say “silence this voice.” Now the Supreme Court didn't agree with me. They took the position that the Biden White House had, in a few instances, violated the First Amendment, but in the majority of instances, they were not coercing the people to take action. They were simply pressuring them, perhaps, but not coercing them.

And so what the president did and what Brendan Carr did seems to me to be in line with what the Supreme Court approved. I take a more rigid stand than that, the government shouldn't do this at all, but the Supreme Court let them get away with it. And the Biden administration, I don't see any material difference in this circumstance. What was attempted, obviously, was not effective, because ABC hired him back.

BROWN: Were you surprised by the decision to reinstate Jimmy Kimmel?

FARRIS: I'm not terribly surprised. I mean, ABC still is a left-leaning organization, and they were looking bad in certain circles. So I can, I can see why they did it. But if I was Jimmy Kimmel, I'd pay attention to what happened here and realize that he needs to get higher ratings by appealing to a broader section of the audience. I mean, they had a legitimate business reason for getting rid of the guy because he was tanking, costing them a lot of money. And I think that, you know, if he has any semblance of common sense, he will take a more balanced view in the way he approaches things.

BROWN: The Communication Acts of 1927 and 1934 introduced language that mandates broadcast stations must “broadcast in the public interest.” What does that mean, and how does it apply to this situation with Jimmy Kimmel?

FARRIS: Well it certainly means that no one can glorify violence against your political opponents using a broadcast license. Now, what it shouldn't mean is merely disagreeing with the people who are in charge of the government today. And that should be the rule when my friends are in office, and it should be the rule when my opponents are in office, we should stand up for the freedom of speech for everybody.

BROWN: Who should make sure networks are doing that? Broadcasting in the public interest?

FARRIS: Well, it's the FCC job at the end of the day to make sure that that's happened. And you know, they have to have a “broadcast in the public interest” meaning to that phrase that's consistent with the First Amendment. And so if they're imbalanced, that by itself, is not, to me, grounds for silencing somebody, because if it is, then Christian radio and television can be in real trouble, because we don't have the local atheist come in and offer his viewpoint on this or that. Or the local Buddhist or somebody else.

Christian radio and television takes a very strong viewpoint, and the public interest does not require us to provide equal and balanced treatment on everything we talk about that simply is not something that should be tolerated, and the government's ability to regulate you should be along the lines of protected speech.

Occasional mistakes? I mean, what Jimmy Kimmel said about the political views of the shooter in Utah is just flatly wrong, and he knew it was wrong. He was trying to make a political point. And you know, that's something that should raise some eyebrows, but I would think that it's constitutionally questionable if that was the only thing, to use that as a grounds for action against a licensee.

BROWN: With Disney reinstating Jimmy Kimmel…how might this whole situation affect public discourse in our country?

FARRIS: Well, I think that the fact that he's been reinstated does emphasize the fact that private employers make their own decisions about this issue. Disney and ABC are big boys, and if the government was pressuring them, they're not going to give in, unless they want to. And so I think that we've driven home the independence of private actors, and that's that's okay.

I think we also hope that we drive home the point, not as in the governmental sphere, but in the business sphere. I hope that ABC and Disney get the point that you shouldn't alienate half of America every time you talk. And I hope Jimmy Kimmel learns that lesson and returns more to the kind of late night entertainment that Johnny Carson gave us and Jay Leno gave us that, you know, they touched on political things once in a while, but it wasn't a steady diet of one side that's just not good business.

BROWN: Michael Farris is general counsel for the National Religious Broadcasters…thanks for joining us.

FARRIS: Thank you.

AUDIO: Summertime / says goodbye to us. / Pretty crazy cool weather feeling like fall. / Man! Did it feel like a very fine fall day?

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s time to pack the pool floaties and break out the pumpkin spice: summer’s eviction notice took effect yesterday at 2:19 pm eastern time, the autumnal equinox.

That’s the moment the sun is directly over the equator, so neither hemisphere gets the tilt advantage.

Now, the animal world doesn’t need the weathermen. Squirrels know to stock up, monarchs to fly south, bears to binge berries and tank up for the long winter’s nap.

Just think: the heavens keep time better than any smartwatch!

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, September 23rd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a classics professor with a doctorate in philosophy and a gift for hip-hop.

Nathan Oglesby manages to blend heartbreak, theology, and rap beats into one unusual career.

EICHER: Music critic Arsenio Orteza now on Oglesby’s latest album, titled Between Piety and Desire.

ARSENIO ORTEZA: Nathan Oglesby may be the only professor of classics with 11,000 subscribers on YouTube and 27,000 followers on Instagram. By the time he earned his Ph.D. from the City University of New York in 2018, he had already patented a uniquely didactic kind of high-I.Q. hip-hop.

MUSIC: [“A Song of My Non-Self”]

Oglesby grew up in Snohomish, Washington, where he attended the United Methodist church before drifting away. Then, gradually—through encounters with William Blake and Martin Luther—he drifted back. Last Easter, he entered the Catholic Church, but, as he has just entered the Yale Divinity School, his spiritual trek may not be over.

His musical trek certainly isn’t. His latest album, Between Piety and Desire, finds him putting hip-hop aside for country and folk. And, as you might expect from an album with Piety in its title, Oglesby’s burgeoning faith plays a role.

MUSIC: [“The Name of Jesus”]

The album is unique in Oglesby’s output for reasons other than its style and its faith-based content. It’s also introspectively autobiographical. Oglesby wrote its 13 songs in the wake of a traumatic romantic break up, hence the Desire part of its title.

OGLESBY: All of the songs on that album are so unlike anything that I’d done for the past 10 years. It was more like writing songs when I was a teenager, feeling, you know, just feelings of passion and pain and, like, self-negation and desire and no way of putting them anywhere except into very crude and rudimentary music, and the songs were arriving whole, you know what I mean? They were coming out just line by line. I certainly wasn’t planning on, like, making an album or anything like that. But they just all arrived, and they saved me.

An album rooted in heartbreak could be a downer or a wound-licking exercise in Too Much Information. To Oglesby’s credit, his heartbreak album is neither. In its jaunty opening song, Oglesby even seems to have achieved a sort of closure.

MUSIC: [“Nothing You Could Do”]

Other songs, however, reveal how bad the post-breakup blues can be, even for someone cultivating a relationship with Christ. Consider, for example, the song “Reading the Bible in a Bar.”

MUSIC: [“Reading the Bible in a Bar”]

I asked Oglesby how autobiographically accurate he was trying to be with the lines “All I’ve got is Jesus Christ and credit-card debt and a car” and “I’m pushin’ 40, and I’ve lost most of what I had.” His answer? Very.

OGLESBY: I lost the girl, I lost the dough, and then there I was, you know, just in this bar. And I’ve been experiencing this draw to faith, but I was also feeling a sense of, like, “Wow. I’ve been trying to follow that path, and so far the path is, like, not leading to milk and honey yet.” So it was like this desert moment, like when the Israelites are like “I kind of feel like we should’ve stayed in Egypt,” you know (laughs)? Like “Slavery was better than this,” because that’s how I felt. I was like “I’m totally free, and nothing encumbers me”—and I’ve kind of always desired that freedom. But it tasted like ash in my mouth.

The bar in question, by the way, is in New Orleans, which really does have streets named Piety and Desire. And when Oglesby says that he’d “lost the dough,” he isn’t exaggerating. For awhile, his skill at making hip-hop videos that addressed serious issues in a clever and engaging way got him not only viral moments but also what he calls “big commissions.” Eventually, however, the number of online content creators grew so large that it became harder for him to stand out. And, anyway, Oglesby admits that he “mismanaged” his big-commission earnings. Having hit financial rock bottom is one reason, other than a sense of “call,” that he has enrolled at Yale’s divinity school (on a scholarship).

OGLESBY: In stepping into this divinity-school path, I want to merge the feeling I had as a professor with the feeling I’ve had as a performer in terms of the practical doing of, like, professing and speaking in that sort of quasi-educational way with the sort of performativity and artistic panache of this, you know, content creation and this—and songwriting. And it’s also not about the transmission of knowledge being an end in itself. It’s actually about the care of the other.

The “other,” in the case of Between Piety and Desire, includes anyone who has ever gone through the failure of romance and anyone who has sought God with his whole heart and mind.

MUSIC: [“I Believe in God and You and Me”]

I’m Arsenio Orteza.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Tuesday, September 23rd. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

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

IVF has become a centerpiece of US health policy. President Trump signed an executive order after taking office, directing federal agencies to expand access and find ways to make it cheaper. On the campaign trail, he said either government or insurance companies ought to pay for IVF treatments. But WORLD Opinions Contributor Katelyn Walls Shelton says even as IVF dominates the conversation, another approach deserves more attention .

KATELYN WALLS SHELTON: When Madeleine Kearns got married in 2023, she knew she would have trouble getting pregnant. Doctors said she likely had a gynecological disorder, but could not confirm without an invasive surgery. Doctors assured her there was another way. In vitro fertilization. But as practicing Catholics, Madeline and her husband believe they cannot use IVF to conceive.

America’s 53 million Catholics and many Protestants have significant concerns about IVF. Despite this, referrals for IVF based on “unexplained infertility” have become the standard of care for many women in the United States.

When her doctors in New York City couldn’t help beyond referring her for IVF, Madeleine discovered a practice in Missouri that specializes in Natural Procreative Technology. NaPro Technology seeks to identify and treat the underlying causes of infertility so women have a greater likelihood of conceiving naturally (and being healthier overall).

It is one of a number of approaches that falls under the umbrella of Restorative Reproductive Medicine (RRM), a field that has existed for more than 25 years and is growing in popularity. Its practitioners say that compared to IVF, RRM is less expensive and less invasive, and research in the journal Therapeutic Advances in Reproductive Health backs them up.

Where the average cost for RRM is in the thousands, just one cycle of IVF is in the tens of thousands. The successful birthrate is higher, and women are also more likely to conceive again naturally without additional intervention.

But while infertility is surging and birthrates are plummeting, America’s major medical associations see RRM as a threat rather than part of the solution.

In August, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine sent a letter to the National Governors Association and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy. The letter calls upon governors and Secretary Kennedy to “reject any legislative or regulatory proposals that would codify RRM.” It was signed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons.

RRM is not a magical fix-all that will solve every couple’s infertility. But if there are cost-effective ways to diagnose and treat the underlying causes of infertility, why aren’t they offered as a first-line treatment in every clinic in the nation? If the associations are displeased by the lack of studies in this emerging field, why not fund more research? If IVF is more expensive, more painful, more time-consuming, and less effective, why promote it? Perhaps the answer comes down to revenue. According to Global Growth Insights, the IVF market in 2024 was valued at nearly 17 billion U.S. dollars…and it’s still growing.

RRM is not yet the standard of care for women in the United States. But it is a hopeful, innovative, and cutting-edge field of women’s health research that the major medical associations appear to be undermining. Madeleine Kearns and her baby girl are living proof that Christian couples struggling with infertility have alternative options to IVF. Hopefully more couples will have the chance to pursue it.

I’m Katelyn Walls Shelton.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Hunter Baker is back for Washington Wednesday. And, we’ll meet some dance enthusiasts keeping the heel drop, brush, and paradiddle alive for the next generation. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is Biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says: “Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.” —Ecclesiastes 9:11, 12

Go now in grace and peace.

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