When I began working at The Heritage Foundation in 2022 to craft a policy platform addressing IVF, surrogacy, and infertility, it was a niche set of issues to say the least. That changed with the Alabama Supreme Court's 2024 IVF decision, which extended personhood to human embryos for the purpose of a “Wrongful Death of a Minor” lawsuit and moved these questions to the center of our national conversation. As both parties sought the mantle of “pro-parent, pro-IVF,” many evangelicals began to wrestle with these issues for the first time.

IVF creates life, so it must be pro-life, right? That was the assumption many people carried into 2024. While evangelical Christians have been the backbone of the pro-life movement—championing a right to life for unborn children from the moment of conception—the reality is that same group has been inconsistent when it comes to their support of IVF. It has not been the result of a lack of conviction, per se, but a lack of knowledge and application. As Christians have learned more about the high rates of human embryo destruction, eugenic selection, indefinite freezing, experimentation, property disputes, and lack of root-cause care that characterizes much of the fertility industry, a movement to rethink our approach to infertility has emerged.

How did we get here? The use of assisted reproductive technologies has exploded in the United States since the first IVF birth in 1978. Unlike any child born in human history before her, Louise Brown entered the world after doctors fertilized her mother’s egg with her father’s sperm in a laboratory petri dish. What began as a treatment for infertility, specifically for women whose fallopian tubes were blocked or whose cancer treatments made natural conception impossible, has snowballed into an entire industry whose primary goal is to help anyone, for any reason, have a baby. Sadly, this under-regulated and unaccountable industry may take the lives of more human embryos each year than abortion does unborn babies, attracting clients from across the world who do not merely want a baby, but a baby of a certain kind.

>>> Equipping the Church for the IVF Era

Practically, most people’s engagement with the fertility industry begins and ends with a diagnosis of infertility and a deep but unfulfilled longing for a child. Of course, it is good to desire children within marriage—it was God’s idea first, after all! And as rates of infertility continue to rise in the United States, it is more important than ever for Christians and the Church to think biblically about the package deal of marriage, sex, and children, as well as about infertility and IVF. It is equally important to ask how the Church can direct couples toward active and prayerful approaches to truly diagnosing and restoring their fertility, rather than simply bypassing their bodies.

Indeed, as medical approaches within restorative reproductive medicine show, infertility is not a standalone disease, but a symptom of underlying conditions. Rather than simply working around the body to create human embryos, couples can treat the underlying conditions to improve their own health, their egg and sperm quality, decrease miscarriage rates, and remove the physical barriers to natural conception through diagnostic cycle charting, targeted lab testing for men and women, lifestyle interventions, medical and hormonal therapies, and corrective surgeries.

That is why we need to promote, and continue to develop, resources for Christians to think biblically and pastorally about the medical and ethical dimensions of these issues. Here are three places to begin.

First, the Anglican Bioethics Center provides a first-of-its-kind set of resources for pastors and lay leaders diving into beginning of life issues, including IVF, surrogacy, embryo adoption, contraception, embryonic genetic screening, and more. Each topic includes a robust biblical basis, medical and/or technical explanation, and a pastoral application section.

>>> An Industry Pipeline for IVF

Second, the Them Before Us series for pastors. Produced by Katy Faust and her team, this series walks through her book Them Before Us to make the biblical case for why and how Christians should defend the rights of children before the desires of adults. This is a great resource for small groups and churches to walk through together.

Third, Rethinking Fertility. I host a new podcast and Substack under the same name, but the organization itself is focused on equipping Christians to take the pro-life fight to Big Fertility and has an ever-growing section called “Help and Hope” where they provide substantive insights and resources to key questions such as “I’m grieving. Help”, “I’m thinking about adoption,” “I did IVF. Now What?”, “I’m struggling to have kids,” and “I want next steps”—all with the goal of equipping the church.

The pro-life movement is at its best when it tells the truth in love and offers practical help. For over 50 years, we have done both for the child in the womb. Now we must do the same for millions of children conceived in the lab, and for the hurting couples who long to bear children of their own. By God’s grace, we can face infertility and reproductive technology the same way: telling the truth in love and offering practical help to those in need.