One of the potential horrors of illegal border crossing is the threat of child trafficking. Untold numbers of children have crossed our borders with unknown individuals accompanying them. The idea of a young minor being used as property is repulsive. The reality is that it happens. Who would abandon their child to strangers? Or worse yet, sell them for passage. It is these kinds of unknown outcomes to a defenseless child that would bother most people.
IVF and Surrogacy
But what about IVF and Surrogacy? Where does that fall? Here lies a defenseless human, who didn’t ask to be here, brought in for profit or personal gain. Is there a difference? I think not. Both outcomes are unknown and potentially harmful to a child.
An increase in infertility has fueled this farming of embryos. But why so much infertility? Several factors can contribute, like low testosterone in men, poor health in women, obesity, or a harmful lifestyle of smoking and drinking.
Sure, IVF sounds like an excellent means to an end. A childless couple, desperate for a family and child of their own, seek every possible avenue. The couple (if they can afford it) turns to medical science as a last resort. And in my opinion, unethical.
IVF is costly and not without risks. The procedures can cost over $40,000 to $100,000. It’s not a one-and-done venture. Eggs need to be collected from the mother, sperm from the father. (Some women even sell their eggs for profit to fertility banks.) Eggs are fertilized in a laboratory in petri dishes. The embryos (mini babies) are tested for genetic problems, gender, and viability. After the selection, the less desirable individuals are discarded and destroyed, or used for experimentation. Since this involves gambling with numbers, up to a dozen eggs may be fertilized at a time.
Viable fertilized eggs are collected and are ready for embryo transfer (often at the blastocyst stage, or about 5 days after fertilization). Or they may be frozen until they can be implanted in a receptive woman at a later time. Timing has to be right for implantation. It has been common for more than one egg to be implanted to ensure one “takes”. This has led to multiple births in the past. In some cases, when multiple embryos are seen on ultrasound, the mother is urged to abort one or more to increase a better outcome for the others.
In recent years, the rate of multiple births has decreased significantly due to the practice of Elective single embryo transfer. Making these “singletons” now accountable for 96% of live IVF births in 2022.
The Risks of IVF
The risk of non-implantation in the uterus can vary with the age of the woman. Success rates for women under 35 are about 49%, but they drop with each passing year. Women aged 38-40 have a live birth rate of approximately 25%, while those aged 41-42 have a rate of 13%, and the rate is less than 5% for women over 42.
Overall, IVF births accounted for 2.6% of all births in the US. In 2023, over 96,000 babies were born through IVF in the US. Worldwide, the numbers are approximately 500,000 per year. It is estimated that since IVF became popular back in the early 1990s, there have been more than 13 million babies born from IVF, maybe as many as 17 million as of 2025, because the rates increase each year.
The eggs do not always take to the womb the first time. So, they have to return to the reserve and collect one or more eggs. What happens to the other fertilized eggs? They remain frozen until the couple is ready to try again….or not.
IVF has been given a more up-to-date acronym: ART: assisted reproductive technology. Perhaps that’s more appealing to LGBTQ clients whose couple may not have a uterus of their own.
Surrogacy Misuse
Besides infertile couples, IVF can also be used in surrogacy. In fact, in Canada, companies are advertising that they will reimburse women up to $25,000 to be a surrogate. Many of the “customers” are LGBTQ couples who wish to have “their” own child. Sometimes, the sperm may even be mixed, making it impossible to determine the actual father. However, it can be determined by DNA testing later.
While researching surrogacy numbers, I came across a company in Los Angeles called Hatch Fertility- surrogacy and Egg donation. They sell their plans as a guaranteed “birth plan”. One price that covers all unforeseen expenses. They claim to be the most experienced in the business, “with investments in state-of-the-art AI empowered incubators, pushing the boundaries of success rates to ensure the best results for their parents.” They claim to have the largest selection of fresh egg donors of any fertility and surrogacy agency. Their partnership with Pacific Fertility Center Los Angeles (PFCPA) has given thousands of gay men the ability to become parents.
The numbers of gay couples using surrogacy vary greatly, mainly because it’s a relatively new development. Some estimate 10% to 20% of surrogacies are to gay couples, but in the past 5 years, that number has increased by 50%. Even the price tag of $100,000 to $200,000 reveals a significant discrepancy in figures. But the average gay couple’s income is estimated at $275,000. More than double the average heterosexual couple.
There are two types of surrogacies. Traditional and gestational. Traditional is when the mother carries her own egg with a known sperm donor through IVF. The other is gestational, where the mother holds a different biological egg, fertilized through IVF. This type is more preferred by gay couples and surrogates alike, since there will be no biological connection to the mother, making it less likely for the mother to take legal action to claim the baby in the future. Additionally, the sperm donor can be one of several males. However, it comes at a higher financial cost due to the additional steps taken.
The Embryo Business
Buying and selling eggs and embryos for whatever reason is immoral. And women are being exploited, used like cattle for breeding. The Catholic church has always denounced IVF and surrogacy. Both interrupt or replace the natural procreative and unitive act of procreation. The Church accepts Natural Family Planning, which works with a woman’s natural cycle to determine ovulation times for natural intercourse.
There are no federal laws that prohibit a registered sex offender from becoming a parent through surrogacy. Recently, a Child predator was arrested after abusing his children conceived through IVF. As an already convicted criminal, he was ineligible for adoption, but not surrogacy. This is a loophole in the system. It’s illegal for a registered predator to adopt, but conceiving through a surrogate is legal. This has caused public outcry, and lawmakers have started introducing laws for background checks and prohibitions on registered sex offenders.
The Guttmacher Institute keeps track of abortion figures and reported 1,037,880 abortions in 2023. (Though real numbers will be higher due to unreported or chemical pills by mail.) But by contrast, 1,759,644 embryos are destroyed due to abandonment, excess discarded through the process, health screening selection, failed attachment, and those sold for experimentation.
Roughly half a million or more babies are killed in the US, as a result of the IVF process, than abortions in the same year. That’s alarming and not well-known. Ironically, a woman who wants a child so badly will allow an untold number of her children (siblings) to be sacrificed to get one.
In any one year, more than a million embryos are frozen and stored in the US, and as many as 93% will eventually be destroyed.
The Legal Landscape
Alabama was in the spotlight last year when a wrongful death suit was brought against a fertility agency for the accidental destruction of embryos. Since Alabama protects the rights of all human life, any willful destruction is illegal.
The political ping pong ball continues to bounce as new laws are made to protect reproductive clinics and the rights of embryos. Most politicians, both democrat and republicans, support IVF. The optics are not good to deny a couple the chance to have their own child. Therefore, the sacrifices made in lives are often overlooked. Even President Trump has come out to support IVF, much to the dismay of ardent “Pro-lifers.”
