Infertility and Reproductive Technology

INTRODUCTION

(Series Slide)

Good morning! My name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor here at Renovation Church.

We are continuing this morning in our challenging series “Those We Do Not See”

(Series Schedule)

And today we are in week 2, so we’ll be diving into the difficult topics of infertility and reproductive technology.

This is quite different from a normal Sunday at our church where I typically teach through a section of the Bible.

Once every year or two, I choose an incredibly difficult cultural topic, spend a good portion of the year researching it, and then teach on what the Bible has to say regarding that tough topic.

And my aim is always to communicate, as Ephesians 4:15 says, the truth in love.

THE EXPERIENCE OF INFERTILITY

(Infertility & Reproductive Technology)

Let me just say from the outset here that infertility is incredibly difficult.

Any time you’re truly hoping for something, and it doesn’t come, it’s painful.

But there’s something uniquely painful about longing for a baby, and not being able to have one.

Infertility is experienced by approximately 7-10% of all couples in the U.S.

And couples that deal with infertility will experience an absolute rollercoaster of emotions, and I think it’s important for those not dealing with infertility to understand this

Most couples still have hope those first few months of trying…even if it’s not working at first.

But as that stretches into a year…it gets much harder.

At the year mark, many people begin to seek help from their OBGYN

And often that brings with it a burst of hope because there are medications that might help.

But then, if the medicine doesn’t help, the despair goes even deeper

Some will then choose to go to a more specialized fertility clinic and begin to try other treatments and perhaps reproductive technologies (which we’ll talk about later)

But what if that doesn’t work?

What if now you’re at year 2, or 3, or 5? And still no baby?

…all the while, the birth announcements from your friends keep arriving in the mail.

And you can’t even go on social media anymore because it’s just everyone showing their baby photos and bragging about their children.

And in many ways, it’s a pain can take over your world.

And I want to encourage you that you are not alone.

The Lord is with you.

We are with you.

Even Scripture speaks often and honestly about the pain of this topic.

For example, Sarah, the wife of Abraham… was unable to have kids for a very long time.

In fact, when they were finally told by an angel that they would have a son, Sarah thought the idea of it actually happening was so ridiculous that she laughed.

And then Sarah’s daughter in-law, Rebekah, was also unable to have a child at first.

Rachel, the wife of Jacob was so distraught about not being able to have children that she once said this to her husband:

(Genesis 30:1) – NIV

When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

Perhaps the most detailed chapter of the Bible on infertility is 1 Samuel 1

1 Samuel 1:6-11

Page 183

This is where Hannah, who would become the mother of the prophet Samuel, was unable to have a child for a very long time.

Let me read a portion of that story to you

(1 Samuel 1:6-11) - NIV

6 Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”
9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

(Infertility & Reproductive Technology)

There’s a lot in this passage (and we’ll read more of it in House Church this week), but one of the things you can’t miss is Hannah’s pain.

In fact, Hannah cries out to God so passionately, that later in the story, the priest, Eli, admits he thought she was drunk.

We also see that her husband felt her pain, but didn’t know what to say (which is not uncommon in infertility)

He awkwardly says, “But don’t I mean more to you than 10 sons?!”

But the pain is real.

And honestly, often what people need most in their hurt is just a friend (a family member) to be there.

And they don’t need you to ask a million questions or tell them what to do, but just to be there.

Kind of like Job’s friends just sat with him in silence for 7 days after his tragedy

And if you’re suffering in this, I urge you as well to let people in.

The devil loves to isolate sheep from the flock with this issue.

If he can get you alone in your despair (away from the flock), then you’re so much easier to attack!

Now, I can’t sit down in silence with each and every one of you right now, but what I can do this morning, as a teacher of God’s Word, is to try and bring more clarity to what often is the biggest question that is cried out to God in infertility.

The question of “Why? Why would you do this God?”

And so I’m just going to briefly give you five reasons for why this happens.

And I’m going to intentionally keep it broad…because the reasons we suffer in infertility are the same for why any of us suffer.

And you might ask, which of these reasons is my reason?

And truthfully, you might not ever know…and it could even be multiple reasons.

And while this might not take away the pain of what you’re feeling, my hope is that it eases your mind some.

FIVE REASONS WE SUFFER:

#1: A fallen world

The Bible says that after Adam & Eve sinned, our created world was broken.

And so we live in a world full of disease, strife, heartbreak, and even infertility. It’s a broken and fallen world.

FIVE REASONS WE SUFFER:

#1: A fallen world

#2: Spiritual warfare

Part of the reason we suffer is because we have a spiritual enemy, the devil who wants to bring devastation to our lives…especially for following Christ.

The Bible tells us that he hates life. In John 10, Jesus says that the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

FIVE REASONS WE SUFFER:

#1: A fallen world

#2: Spiritual warfare

#3: Sin

Sometimes we suffer in life because of the natural consequences of our own sin…

…and sometimes we suffer because in life because our Heavenly Father is disciplining us for our sin (as the Bible often talks about…see Hebrews 12)

Now, this third reason (sin) is almost always skipped when people talk about infertility

But I felt such an intense conviction this week that I would be sinning against God if I deleted the Biblical examples under #3 simply because this is such a tender topic.

I don’t want to hide the Bible from you in order to make you like me more or this message easier to digest.

And so yes, sometimes sin can be a reason for infertility.

In 2 Samuel 6, King David’s wife Michal rebukes him for worshipping the Lord passionately in front of everyone.

And as a response to her rebuke of worshipping the Lord, the Bible says

(2 Samuel 6:23) – NIV

23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

Infertility also appears as a consequence in the blessings and curses list in Deuteronomy 28

Now, is sin the reason for infertility most of the time?

No. In fact, I would say it’s rarely ever the reason.

In fact, in 7 of the 8 personal stories of infertility in the Bible, sin is not the reason at all.

So hear me: It’s highly unlikely that your infertility has anything to do with sin!

But, that being said…

…if you do have a serious, ongoing sin in your life where you are openly rebelling against God.

Repent.

Not just because you want to change your circumstances, but because repentance is always right for all us…whatever our circumstances.

FIVE REASONS WE SUFFER:

#1: A fallen world

#2: Spiritual warfare

#3: Sin

#4: It is often how God grows us

As C.S. Lewis once said, “Pain is God’s megaphone.”

Suffering is often the tool that God uses to teach us and prune us, and draw us closer to Him.

Most of us don’t grow in easy seasons, we grow in the stretching seasons where we actually have to come to God and depend on Him

I’ve talked to several people who’ve told me that their infertility journey was the hardest period of their life, but also the time they grew deepest in the Lord.”

Like any season of suffering, it’s a crossroads.

You can drift away from Him.

Or, it can become the very season where you grow more dependent on God than ever

FIVE REASONS WE SUFFER:

#1: A fallen world

#2: Spiritual warfare

#3: Sin

#4: It is often how God grows us

#5: God’s timing

Many of the stories about infertility in the Bible are actually stories about God’s timing.

Elizabeth and Zechariah (the parents of John the Baptist) were infertile for a very long time.

But it wasn’t because of sin

In fact, the Bible goes out of its way to point out how righteous they were

(Luke 1:6) – NIV

6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 

God chose them (out of all the people in the world) to be parents to John the Baptist precisely because they were so Godly.

But, John had to be born at a VERY specific time, so that his timeline would line up with Jesus, and so in the waiting, his parents dealt with infertility.

(Infertility & Reproductive Technology)

And in your waiting period, you want to be deeply seeking God for His will.

And His will may be for you to have biological children…

It may be His will for you to adopt (and we’ll talk much more about adoption last week)

It may even be His will that you remain without children.

Remember, both Jesus and the Apostle Paul didn’t have children, and they weren’t lacking anything in the Kingdom of God.

Just as the single person sitting near you today is not lacking anything in God’s Kingdom.

And so press into God, and pray that ultimately His will be done.

TRANSITIONARY PARAGRAPH

Okay, now that we’ve explored the Biblical and emotional framework for infertility, let’s shift to the question that many eventually ask along this journey: Which medical options are Biblically permissible for Christians?”

And if you’re new to church (or you’re not a Christian), it may seem odd or even self-righteous to you that we would draw an ethical and moral line today and say, “This is good, this is not”

But listen, EVERYONE draws a moral line somewhere on these topics. EVERYONE.

The difference is that most people draw their lines based on their subjective opinion is at the time.

But what I’m going to give you today is a line based not on my opinion, but on what the Word of God (which is our authority as Christians) teaches us about human life & dignity.

And by the way, that’s a line that never changes.

Centuries and cultures galore have come and gone, but this line hasn’t moved.

We studied this moral line in detail last week, but in case you missed it, here are our major Biblical principles for our moral line in this series:

The Scriptures Unmistakably Teach:

1) What is inside the womb is a baby created by God

2) Each and every baby is a member of the human race immediately from conception.

3) All humans are made in the image of God.

4) Therefore, to terminate a pregnancy is immoral because it is ending a human life that was created in the image of God.

And then we discussed that even scientifically, life begins at conception because a completely new DNA sequence is present from day one…

…and for every other animal, scientists say the beginning of life starts at conception.

And just because a human is at an earlier stage of development, doesn’t make them less human.

So we’re going to cover 3 major reproductive technologies here.

Certainly there are more, but these are the major ones.

I originally had an entire 4th section on surrogacy as well, but I couldn’t fit it into our time this morning, so I ended up covering that in our House Church Video for this week.

BIRTH CONTROL

REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES

#1: Birth Control

Now, admittedly, this is an odd one to start with since birth control limits reproduction rather than aids it.

But as married couples are planning their families this ethical question comes up a lot, and I doubt it will come up randomly in another message, so let’s talk about it while we are here.

The Bible says that we should be fruitful and multiply, and yet, there is also no moral imperative that every good thing must be done to the max.

So in other words, there is no command that you must have as many children as possible.

Sleep is a good thing, but God doesn’t require you to get as much as possible.

Similarly, food is good, but we don’t have to eat as much as possible

And so there is nothing morally wrong with married couples using a birth control method like a barrier method (like a condom), procedures like a vasectomy, or even hormonal birth control.

The only caveat is:

If you’re using a pill, you want to use birth control that prevents ovulation, not a method that is preventing an already fertilized embryo (which is a human life) from implanting

If you’re unsure on your specific method, I encourage you to do some research on it

And by the way if you want to study any of these methods or technologies deeper than we’re even going today, we have some excellent books on our resource page of our website and in our library.

IUI

REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES

#1: Birth Control

#2: Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)

This is actually really common, even though it may sound foreign to some of you.

IUI is often one of the first leaps into reproductive technology that couples will take if basic medicine doesn’t help solve the issue.

In IUI the husband’s semen is collected, washed, and the most mobile are selected.

And then they are medically injected into the woman’s uterus through the cervix.

As long as people are using the husband’s own sperm and wife’s own egg, there isn’t really an ethical issue here either.

It can sometimes feel wrong to people because it’s unnatural.

But listen, so is taking medicine in general, or having surgery…half of modern life today is unnatural (thanks to technology)

But unnatural doesn’t necessarily mean bad.

God has given us brains to subdue the earth and use it for good.

And so if we can use medicine and technology to help us be fruitful and multiply, we should.

As long as, we don’t cross moral lines in the process

So on the flip side…just because something is technologically possible, doesn’t always make it morally right.

The world is full of technology that can be used for evil.

This is why we have to really work hard to apply our Biblical Principles for this series.

And honestly, as we progress here in Reproductive Technology, this whole field is kind of the “ethical wild west”…there is hardly any Christian teaching on it yet.

And because it’s so personal and so tender, often most people are very hesitant to speak into it.

Which means, we have even less guidance!

But these technologies are only going to become more popular, so we have to do the hard thing now, look deeply and critically at it, and apply the principles of God’s Word to it.

IN VITRO FERTILIZATION

So let’s talk now about In Vitro Fertilization

REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES

#1: Birth Control

#2: Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)

#3: In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

For many couples, IVF becomes an option when most of the earlier methods do not work (fertility drugs, IUI, etc)

And I’ll say from the outset that this is really heavy.

And I understand it’s very personal for many, and I love you, and I see you…and no one in this room is anywhere near perfect.

Life is complex.

But IVF is ethically and morally challenging in a way that I don’t think most people yet understand (including myself until I began to research it this year)

And even for couples who are infertile, the complexities of IVF aren’t always clearly explained to them

Clinics will often use phrases that soften or obscure what’s actually happening.

So let’s talk about exactly how IVF works.

It begins with ovarian stimulation, basically injectable medications that cause the ovaries to release around 10-14 eggs instead of the usual single egg per cycle.

Then, the father’s sperm is collected, and all the mother’s eggs are fertilized in a lab.

Not every egg will successfully fertilize and become an embryo.

So if 12 eggs are fertilized, that would typically result in around 8 embryos

However, of those 8 embryos, usually around 4 of them won’t fertilize correctly enough to keep sustaining life, and so their development will naturally shut down (and this happens at the same rate in natural reproduction as well)

But there will be, on average, 4 embryos that will just continue right on developing (like normal)…these are 4 human lives.

Because remember, an embryo is the beginning, the first stage of human life, a genetically new human being.

It’s a person made in the image of God.

Then next, a few days before they would implant 1 of those 4 embryos into the mother’s womb, the medical team will take all 4 embryos, do genetic testing, and then rank them.

And if any of the embryos show signs of possible special needs or disease, they are placed at the bottom…and tragically, more times than not, they’re discarded.

At some clinics, couples can even choose which embryo they want based on gender

The top ranked embryo is then implanted into the mother, and the baby has about a 30-50% chance of successfully implanting and becoming a live birth, and that percentage is heavily dependent upon the mother’s age.

But let’s say the implantation is successful, and a child is born.

What about the other 3 embryos that are left?

As I said, some parents will choose to discard them…ending their lives.

While others choose to freeze them…often planning to implant them at a later date.

And just so you understand the scale of this:

There are currently around 1,500,000 frozen embryos in storage in the United States

These are lives.

They’re just frozen at 8-10 days of development.

And IVF is increasing in scope quickly in this country.

In fact, it’s more than doubled just in the last 7 years.

And it’s on the verge of growing exponentially as politicians are seeking to make it significantly more affordable.

In the latest year we have data from the CDC, we see that

In 2022, 435,426 rounds of IVF were performed in the U.S.

If each round results in 4 embryos, that means IVF creates 1,741,704 embryos each year

Certainly, many of those embryos result in the birth of wonderful children, however, here are our best guess averages based on studied percentages for each category.

From the 1.7 million embryos created:

350,00 are discarded immediately or donated to research

140,000 will perish in a later thawing attempt

500,000 will be frozen but then later discarded

That means IVF creates 990,000 human lives each year that will eventually be terminated

Most analysts say that it will only be a few more years until IVF is taking more lives per year than abortion

This is a bigger deal than I think many have yet realized.

Now, before I go any further, let me say, with absolute clarity: 
Children who are born through IVF are precious, valuable, and fully made in the image of God.

They are not less than or tainted or anything of the sort.

The tragedy of IVF is not the children who are born…

The tragedy is the hundreds of thousands who never get a chance to be.

So does there exist a Biblically, God-honoring way to do IVF?

It may surprise you to hear me say this, but I think it is possible for Christians to do IVF.

However, I think the only ethical way to do it would be to fertilize one egg, pray it fertilizes, and then only implant the one embryo.

That’s really the only way to do where you can ensure you will never take a human life.

Here is the reality though: the majority of fertility clinics have a policy against this because it will negatively impact their success rates if they only create one embryo.

REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES

#1: Birth Control

#2: Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)

#3: In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

Many Christians will say (and I used to believe this myself until I started more deeply researching this year), they’ll say: But isn’t it okay to create say 3 or 4 embryos as long as you’re committed to implanting all of them eventually.

Theoretically yes, but here’s the problem with that:

You do not know your future.

For example, I was just reading about a Christian couple who created 6 embryos via IVF.

They implanted 2, and had two wonderful children, and they froze the other four embryos…

…saying they were fully committed to implanting all four eventually.

But then, they quite unexpectedly, ended up naturally conceiving…twice! (now they have 4 kids…but still have 4 more frozen)

But then the dad lost his job…plus they were getting older…and to them, their family felt complete.

And so their other four children are still frozen at 9 days of development.

And this ends up being the story for a lot of people.

Which is why I couldn’t advise the method of making 3 or 4 embryos because you just don’t what your future will bring!

And so some will say here, “Can’t you just put the extra kids up for embryo adoption?”

And listen, I think embryo adoption is good (we’ll talk about it more next week)…because many of these frozen embryos are akin to destitute orphans…unless someone adopts them, they will perish.

But statistically, with only a few thousand embryo adoptions happening a year right now, and with 1.5 million frozen embryos, the odds of your embryo getting adopted are heartbreakingly low.

And…if I may, let me ever so gently ask: If you had 4 children, and let’s say at age 40, you unexpectedly found out that you were pregnant with a 5th, would you place that 5th child up for adoption simply because your family felt complete?

No. You wouldn’t.

Then neither should you do with those we do not see because they are an equal life created in God’s image.

One of the foundational problems with IVF is that children often get treated as a commodity or a product…not as the human beings that they really are.

And so if you or a friend or relative are considering IVF, Biblically, I would advise you not to proceed with it unless you are comfortable only fertilizing one egg.

And if you already have embryos frozen, Biblically, I believe you should treat them equally to your own children…because that’s what they are.

Do not discard them.

Do not intentionally implant them at a time when they cannot survive.

You want to try and do whatever is possible to ensure they live and prosper.

Because that is how you would treat any of your other children.

And if your age now makes implantation unlikely to succeed, then pursue finding someone to adopt them with all you have.

But I urge you to decide in your heart that intentionally ending their lives is not an option.

CONCLUSION

Okay, this is such an atypical message, and I know for some this has been incredibly eye-opening.

But for others, this has been extremely hard.

But I want you to know: we love you. God loves you.

And we want to walk with you, no matter where you are along this journey.

Again, bring this to your house church, to the people around you this week, and let us support you, pray with you, and walk with you.

Let me pray.