CV NEWS FEED // Slamming the in-vitro fertilization (IVF) industry for profiting off of couples’ fears and struggles, prominent pro-life activist Kristan Hawkins offered pro-lifers advice on how to talk about IVF.
“To start, the pro-life movement’s criticisms of IVF does not mean that children created via IVF are less worthy of life than other children. Every child is a gift, regardless of the circumstances of his or her conception,” wrote Hawkins in a series of posts on X.
Hawkins, a Catholic, is the president of Students for Life Action (SFLA) and Students for Life.
Hawkins clarified that criticism of the morality of IVF is not a criticism “of the countless amazing human beings alive today because of it.”
“In fact, recognizing the value of every human being, even those created in labs, is the core of what our movement is all about,” she continued.
>> Read: Bioethics Expert: Embryos Are Human Beings Regardless of Location <<
The debate on the morality of IVF and whether pro-lifers can support it came to national attention on February 16, when the Supreme Court of Alabama ruled that human beings conceived through IVF are children with human rights.
The ruling came after several couples sued for “wrongful death” because an IVF clinic carelessly dropped and killed their frozen embryonic children.
In discussing IVF, the pro-life movement can unite on the premise that the commodification of children is wrong, Hawkins explained:
We all oppose the commodifying of children and treating them as property, would rather see a woman’s body healed in a way to conceive naturally, and do not want to see children frozen in perpetuity, discarded, or used for scientific testing.
As CatholicVote previously reported, the “Catholic Church teaches that children have specific rights that protect them from being treated as commodities or scientific projects… As such, the Church teaches that IVF is a grave evil that cannot be accepted or practiced.”
Hawkins wrote: “The main issue is that IVF often treats children as commodities to be bought, hand-picked, and discarded if not perfect or no longer desired. Children are gifts and should always be treated as precious, valuable, and with respect.”
She added that “couples struggling with infertility are carrying a very difficult cross” and “deserve support, love, and authentic medical care.” She also noted that a couple’s “desire for children is a good and beautiful thing.”
>> Read: Catholic Bioethicist on the Evil of Surrogacy and the Cross of Infertility <<
Hawkins criticized the IVF industry for profiting “off the struggles, fears, and good desires of couples, while ignoring medical healing that could address the cause of many couples’ seasons of infertility.”
“For example, many face infertility due to PCOS, hormone imbalances, endometriosis, and other cycle issues,” she wrote.
Hawkins pointed out that one round of IVF costs about $15,000. Because of this expense, “IVF clinics often harvest more than needed eggs from a woman’s body and create multiple human beings in the embryonic stage,” she explained:
Those humans are then “screened” (i.e. thrown away or donated to research) for genetic abnormalities like Down syndrome or cystic fibrosis.
Embryos that survive the screening process but are not implanted in their mother are frozen to be used later if the IVF treatment is not successful, which is also a likely death sentence.
In other words, IVF also lends itself to outright eugenic practices, enabling discrimination against children with disabilities.
Hawkins warned:
There are zero laws in place to ensure IVF clinics aren’t practicing eugenics (only implanting human embryos of a certain sex like Paris Hilton famously bragged about or throwing away humans that have cystic fibrosis like my own children) or aren’t creating and freezing millions of human embryos with no intention to ever let them be implanted and born.
Hawkins added that IVF is not the only option for couples struggling with their fertility, nor is it “the most effective.” She emphasized that an alternative option, called NaproTechnology, “promotes natural conception by healing the causes of infertility.”
>> Watch: Catholic Woman Who Struggled With Infertility for Years: IVF Is Not the Answer <<
“One last thing, no one ever said it was easy to be consistent,” Hawkins concluded:
Holding steadfast in the truth, even when things get personal, can feel impossible. But when we approach every tough conversation with love and empathy, we can figure out how to care for families struggling with fertility AND create a society that respects all human life, regardless of age.
>> Watch: The Top 5 Catholic Videos on IVF & Infertility <<
