NOTE: This article features some sensitive topics that may not be suitable for younger readers. Please use discretion.
On February 20, 2025, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement in response to President Trump’s executive order calling for policies to make in vitro fertilization (IVF) more affordable and available to Americans.
“As pastors, we see the suffering of so many couples experiencing infertility and know their deep desire to have children is both good and admirable; yet the Administration’s push for IVF, which ends countless human lives and treats persons like property, cannot be the answer…”
“The IVF industry treats human beings like products and freezes or kills millions of children who are not selected for transfer to a womb or do not survive. Tuesday’s executive order promoting IVF is thus fatally flawed and stands in regrettable contrast to the promising pro-life actions of the Administration last month.
Every human person is a precious gift with infinite dignity and worth, no matter how that person was conceived. People born as a result of IVF have no less dignity than anyone else. It is our moral responsibility to uphold the dignity of their brothers and sisters who are never given the chance to be born.
For the sake of couples trying to bring precious new life into the world, we look forward to working with the Administration to expand support for restorative reproductive medicine that can help ethically treat often-overlooked root causes of infertility. However, we will strongly oppose any policy that expands destruction of human life, or forces others to subsidize the cost.”
Patrick Madrid discussed the topic on his show, further outlining why IVF constitutes a grave sin at every stage.
“It was staggering to me to realize just how unfamiliar with IVF the average person is. They don’t realize what it is and what it does,” began Patrick.
For those unfamiliar with the process of IVF, it involves utilizing sperm to artificially fertilize an ovum within a culture medium in a fertility facility or laboratory.
“First of all, it involves a mortal sin for the husband, the father. That’s a mortal sin right there. It also dissociates the act of conception from the intimate union between the husband and the wife. The Catholic Church condemns the idea that conception can turn into, basically, a lab experiment, often with donor contributions–either the sperm or the egg. The consequences of this process are another level of evil which is the attack on the dignity of these unborn children, who are being treated as if they are mere commodities.”
After the eggs have been fertilized and incubated in the lab, the couple is then faced with the choice of selecting an embryo, and the remaining embryos are either put on ice or aborted. No matter how a child is conceived, they should be welcomed into this world with love, not tossed aside like an object.
Instead of pursuing IVF as the only option for those couples who struggle with infertility, we should, as Bishop Thomas suggests, focus on the expansion of support for alternative methods of restorative medicine that can ethically treat the issues that so many prospective parents face.
For more information on the Church’s teaching on IVF, click here.
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