A great article from the NC Family Policy Council lays out the key issues with creating life in order to destroy it or abandon it:
The IVF process is multifaceted, time-consuming, and very expensive. Because of this, many people choose to retrieve and fertilize more eggs than they intend to implant—in anticipation of possible future attempts to become pregnant. The result is an excess of human embryos, which are typically frozen and stored via cryopreservation. For a yearly fee, parents can keep their unborn babies frozen while they decide how to proceed. Choices include carrying the embryos themselves, donating the embryos to another woman or couple, giving the embryos to a lab for scientific research, destroying the embryos after a period of time, or keeping the embryos in storage indefinitely.
It is estimated that there are currently more than 1.5 million frozen embryos in the United States, with the addition of newly frozen embryos daily. Many clinics are also dealing with embryo abandonment, finding that many couples disappear after they are content with the size of their families, leaving no provision or contract for the storage, donation, or destruction of their embryos. From a legal standpoint, the clinics are caught in an untenable situation, unable to do anything with the unborn without the consent of the parents. But, as Christians, it is the moral and ethical concerns that need to be addressed, and the Alabama Supreme Court ruling is a significant step in the right direction…
How we view the unborn, at any gestational stage, is of the utmost importance. Allowing circumstances to determine the value of, or the rights of, a person is dangerous. As anyone with life experience can tell you, circumstances change. The value of a child created by God, however, is fixed.
We all have intrinsic value as the image bearers of God. He knew us before we were conceived. God is the giver of life from the beginning. A society that rids itself of “unwanted” human life is dangerous, evil, and living outside of the will of the Creator…
The Alabama case has opened the door to reignite a serious discussion about IVF and its implications. And, in regards to the primary question of when life begins, we believe Alabama got it right.
Indeed it is a very important question that deserves discussion. Yes the Alabama Supreme Court got it right. I can’t help but wonder if this issue is heading for the SCOTUS.
Fred, it is yet another issue that illustrates the massive cultural divide in America– those who are opposed to what God would expect, versus those who are in agreement with what God would expect.