President in thorny area as in vitro fertilization recommendations threaten to split Republicans
The Catholic Church opposes IVF, despite the support of several “Catholic Conservatives”
By Catholics for Catholics
President Donald Trump is in a predicament.
According to the Washington Times, Trump must walk through a balancing act when he proposes a plan for in vitro fertilization.
“The complex balancing act will require the president to appease two portions of his base. On one side are pro-life advocates who say the IVF industry is an unregulated “Wild West” akin to abortion because the embryos created during the process are often discarded. On the other side are conservatives, led by Vice President J.D. Vance, who say IVF is a solution to the long-term economic problems caused by America’s record-low birth rate”
Trump told the Domestic Policy Council to find ways to make IVF more accessible and affordable to Americans struggling with fertility in May, according to the Times. Such proposal could be announced within days.
Nevertheless, the Trump Administration has jealously kept its plans under wraps. Spokesman Kush Desai told The Times it was premature to discuss the unfinalized recommendations.
Still, at issue is that the president is expected to try to sidestep one of the most contentious themes in the IVF dispute: What happens to embryos that are not transferred to the uterus for implantation or are no longer needed for reproductive purposes? The recommendations are widely expected to address access but not what should be done with the embryos. Many pro-life advocates have condemned genetic testing and the destruction of embryos. They argue that the embryos are human lives.
“Please stop and study the IVF industry, which is disturbing as it preys on desperate families, kills humans in the embryonic stage, and promotes eugenics,” Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins posted on X shortly after Mr. Trump released his executive order.
According to The Times, if the recommendations significantly improve access to IVF, the burgeoning industry is set to explode. From 2022 to 2023, the number of babies born through IVF increased from 91,771 to 95,860, nearly 5%, accounting for 2.6% of births in the U.S.
The industry is valued at $5.7 trillion. Depending on the recommendations, it could swell to $8 trillion. Critics warn that expanding access to an industry that isn’t governed by the stringent regulations of other medical procedures would be misguided and dangerous.
“The fertility industry today is, by and large, an under-regulated, unaccountable industry with very few federal or state laws governing what takes place,” said Emma Waters, a policy analyst specializing in reproductive medicine at The Heritage Foundation. “It is very unique as compared to other major medical procedures because it is primarily self-regulated by major societies such as the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and Resolve,” she said. “These organizations are setting the guidelines that clinics are supposed to follow but have no legal bearing. They are also financially motivated to see an increase in the fertility industry because, as the fertility industry increases, so does the power of these organizations.”
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine and Resolve: The National Infertility Association declined to comment.
Among a spate of lawsuits, according to The Times, a White couple is suing over getting the wrong embryo and giving birth to a Black baby. Others have lost eggs or embryos to the implosion of a clinic’s storage lab.
Veronica Flamenco from Catholics for Catholics, also a prolife advocate, is a staunch opponent of IVF, said: “IVF is not as beautiful as it is made out to be. Again, although the end is noble, the means do not justify such an aberration. When humanity wants to be like God, it ends up self-destructing.”
Flamenco added: “It is important that people inform themselves, read the Catechism (2377) so that they understand that the Church does not invent rules to bother people but to protect the dignity of human beings, care for sacredness of life and to seek the salvation of souls.”
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