Churches Must Address Embryo Screening Ethics As 75% Of US Fertility Clinics Offer Sex Selection Testing
Theologian Calls IVF "Pro Life Consequentialism" Where Ends Justify Means, 73% Of Clinics Allow Parents To Discard Embryos Based On Gender, Genetic Testing Raises Eugenic Concerns
Silence from Scripture on new technologies is no excuse for silence from the church, Christianity Today argued in a January 2026 article addressing in vitro fertilization and embryo screening ethics.
The Bible doesn't talk about IVF, CRISPR, or egg freezing, but mature Christians and pastors must give confident scriptural answers to new questions even when overt biblical teaching is lacking, wrote theologian A Trevor Sutton.
If contraception was the canary in the coal mine for insufficiently examined sexual ethics, IVF is the same for biomedical ethics, Sutton stated. The logic follows a kind of pro life consequentialism where if a technology purports to save or enrich human life then the ends justify the means.
Standard preimplantation genetic testing allows doctors to determine sex and potential health outcomes including Down syndrome and single gene disorders like cystic fibrosis. In the United States 75 percent of all fertility clinics offer PGT according to research cited by Christ Over All.
Of these clinics, 73 percent allow parents to select or discard based on if the child is a boy or a girl. A growing number of parents report electively using IVF to select their child's sex. Routine uses of genetic testing, embryo selection and indefinite freezing or discarding of embryos violates the Christian belief in the inherent worth of human life from the moment of fertilization, the analysis stated.
Protestant Churches Divided On IVF Ethics, Catholic Church Opposes Technology Separating Procreation From Marital Act
Most Protestant denominations do not have a firm position for or against IVF according to multiple sources, though the Catholic Church condemns it as immoral.
When it comes to IVF, one survey found Protestant Christians were largely in favor of embryo creation for a married couple but against sperm and egg donation. They also opposed preimplantation genetic testing which screens which embryos to implant. Doctors create an average of 15 embryos in a single round of IVF according to Heritage Foundation research.
Only 3 to 7 percent of all created embryos result in the live birth of a child. For Christians who believe life begins at conception, it is essential that Christians apply this teaching to protect all embryonic life regardless of how conception occurs.
Focus on the Family recommends Christian couples considering IVF consult fertility specialists who hold pro life values and ask questions about how many embryos will be created, whether any will be frozen, and whether preimplantation genetic testing will be conducted.
TAKE ACTION
• Snowflakes Embryo Adoption: Support at nightlight.org facilitating adoption of frozen embryos created through IVF, giving life to embryos that would otherwise remain frozen indefinitely or be destroyed through genetic screening
• National Embryo Donation Center: Donate at embryodonation.org providing Christian couples option to adopt embryos rather than create excess through IVF, addressing ethical concerns about embryo destruction and selective screening
• Focus on the Family: Access resources at focusonthefamily.com helping Christian couples navigate IVF ethics including questions about preimplantation genetic testing, embryo grading, sex selection, and destruction of genetically abnormal embryos
• Them Before Us: Give at thembeforeus.com advocating for children's rights in reproductive technology, challenging IVF practices that commodify embryonic life through genetic screening and selective implantation based on desired traits
• Heritage Foundation: Support at heritage.org researching bioethics and reproductive technology from Christian perspective, educating churches on IVF's average 15 embryo creation rate and 3 to 7 percent live birth success
