The destruction of embryos and the production of frozen embryos are only two of the many problems with IVF. Several Christian writers have addressed other ethical issues and whether Christians should engage in IVF at all. Thankfully, other options exist.

On February 18, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Expanding Access to In Vitro Fertilization.” Americans expected this action; Trump promised during his campaign to advance IVF.

Infertility, of course, isn’t new to humanity. The Bible records seven couples who struggled to have children, beginning with Abram and Sarai in Genesis 15. Perhaps the most well-known biblical account of infertility is that of Hannah, who “was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly” (1 Sam. 1:10).

Some reading this are all too familiar with praying and weeping as Hannah did. My wife and I certainly are. When we began trying to build our family, we received a diagnosis of infertility, making us part of the approximately 15 percent of couples who today face this issue. After initial tests, interventions, and treatments failed, we were encouraged to consider IVF.

Value of Every Human Life

The rightful ache for a child of one’s own that we and so many others share with Hannah is a key reason why reproductive technologies like IVF were developed. Trump’s executive order appropriately recognizes the importance of family and the government’s role in helping promote and support the bearing and rearing of children.

However, the executive order makes the mistake of promoting the idea that because IVF produces some live births—albeit fewer than most people realize—it’s a good thing and, thus, something that should be expanded.

To be clear, the children born through IVF are gifts. Like all other human beings, they’re created in God’s image. Several places in Scripture speak to the great worth of human beings, how God knows each facet of our lives. Psalm 139, for example, details his intimate knowledge of us: “You know when I sit down and when I rise up.” God has known us since the beginning of our lives. God “formed [our] inward parts” and “knitted [us] together” in our mothers’ wombs. These promises—and it’s promissory that God knows us and cares about every detail of our lives—apply equally to all human beings without exception as God sovereignly rules over every person regardless of the circumstances of their conception.

Moreover, out of his great love for us, God the Son was incarnated as one of us, fully God and fully man at the same time. Luke recounts that the angel Gabriel told Mary, “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son” (Luke 1:31). It’s amazing to think that the incarnation began with Jesus Christ as an embryo.

Hidden Reality of IVF

Few people know that 93 percent of all embryos created through IVF don’t result in a pregnancy. Some embryos don’t survive long enough to be transferred into a womb. Some fail to implant when transferred, and many are left frozen indefinitely.

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