In vitro fertilization (IVF) has become a popular remedy for infertility among couples. Those who struggle to bear children, often out of desperation, turn to IVF to start their family.

Since the introduction of this new technology, even Christian couples have considered IVF but wondered about its ethical implications.

To really appreciate the moral dilemma, we must first understand what exactly IVF is and how it works.

IVF is reproductive technology that involves combining sperm and one or more eggs in a laboratory and then the fertilized embryos are implanted in the woman’s uterus.

The sperm and eggs used in the process are usually collected from the husband and wife but can also be donated by third parties.

As well, the embryos created are often implanted in the wife’s womb but are sometimes carried instead by a gestational surrogate. 

As you can see from the IVF process outlined above, the problematic ethical dilemmas are evident.

First of all, the collection of sperm and eggs to enhance the probability of success creates multiple embryos, and if any are discarded or frozen, then human life is being destroyed.

A second dilemma is the introduction of third parties into the process. Using donor sperm and eggs severs the biological connection to the parents and compromises the marital union.

Another dilemma is the use of a surrogate to carry the baby, which opens the door for same sex parents to have children and creates opportunity for commercial exploitation.

One of ways IVF can be exploited is by offering couples embryo selection or what is now being called “designer babies.”

Embryo selection involves preimplantation genetic testing to sort and screen embryos for genetic diseases, chromosomal abnormalities, and even for undesired traits.

As you can imagine, offering couples the ability to choose (or have chosen for them) the traits of their own children raises flags about eugenics and the wanton elimination of undesired children.

Even now, boutique fertility clinics are springing up everywhere marketing not just genetic embryo selection for couples but even three-parent embryos with genetic material from three different people.

Some are even promoting a new technology called in vitro gametogenesis that would allow a single person to be both the genetic mother and father of a child or allow any combination of people to share parentage of one baby.

For obvious reasons, in vitro fertilization is fraught with all kinds of ethical issues, and complicating things is that there are practically no federal or state laws regulating it.

The truth is that more lives are lost each year to IVF than to abortion in the United States, and only 7 percent of embryos created through IVF will ever be born.

This matters to us, and as Christians, we must carefully consider the ethical implications posed by IVF because literally hundreds of thousands of lives depend on it.