Dr. John David Gordon was a reproductive endocrinologist without a home.
With a medical degree from Duke and his residency at Stanford, the Boston native, who was raised Jewish and converted to Christianity in 2000, is a skilled physician committed to helping infertile couples have children. His credentials and skills are unassailable and unbeatable.
But there was a problem – and it was a moral and ethical one of major proportions.
Serving in a leadership role at a fertility clinic just outside of Washington, D.C., for over twenty years, Dr. Gordon began having significant misgivings about how his facility was doing business.
Like almost every fertility clinic these days across the reproductive medicine industry, the establishment was employing nearly every available technology to help maximize success. This included creating as many embryos as possible with each patient, a strategy that allows physicians to be choosy when it comes to selecting which ones to transfer to the mother.
At fertility clinics across the world, embryos are literally graded and evaluated, and those statistically most likely to implant and grow are the winners. Those that don’t make the cut are either frozen or discarded.
While nobody knows for sure, it’s estimated that more than thirty million embryos are created around the world each year because of IVF technology. A typical IVF cycle in a traditional clinic will result in up to 15 embryos. Most clinics recommend transferring only three or four.
Although his motives were redeeming, Dr. Gordon began feeling the ethical burden of being part of this industry that had grown increasingly reckless and mercenary. “It’s too morally problematic,” Gordon concluded. “I don’t know where you draw the line.”
After consulting with his wife, Allison, who also shared his deep Christian convictionsand unease over the direction of reproductive medicine, Dr. Gordon decided to leave the Washington, D.C. clinic and open one that would operate within biblical moral and ethical boundaries.
Setting up shop in eastern Tennessee, “Rejoice Fertility was created with a clear vision: to deliver an unparalleled patient experience where couples could openly discuss their moral, ethical, spiritual, and religious concerns about reproductive medicine.”
Specifically, Rejoice Fertility is a “no-discard” IVF clinic. Patients are encouraged to create only the embryos they will transfer or use for a future IVF.
Any embryos created are either used for fresh transfer or preserved for future frozen embryo transfer.
For decades, Focus on the Family has been asked by married couples on how best to navigate the myriad of ethical considerations and challenges surrounding IVF. The ministry has recognized that across Christendom, believers may view the issue very differently.
While the Catholic Church has remained steadfast in their opposition to it, the Southern Baptists traditionally supported it but have since expressed a growing concern. The denomination’s convention passed a resolution decrying the ethical lines most clinics regularly cross. In doing so, they were correctly calling out the rise in embryo destruction, elective reduction, genetic screening, and the astronomical number of frozen embryos. They stopped just short of calling for an all-out ban.
Given that the Bible doesn’t offer clear guidance on the overarching technology, we’ve thoughtfully and prayerfully studied the question. We’ve long said that doctors can take proactive steps to address many of the moral and ethical concerns associated with IVF – steps that Dr. Gordon and his team appear to be acknowledging and grappling with on a daily basis.
In the instances where couples may be unable to transfer frozen embryos, Rejoice Infertility strongly advocates for the couple agreeing to make the baby available for adoption. “Snowflake” embryo adoption has been a wonderful program that seeks to find forever homes for these babies locked in a perpetual frozen state.
In a world swirling with countless moral and ethical conundrums, we applaud Dr. Gordon for his efforts to care for his patients and prayerfully address and wage a fight that far too many medical professionals have long ago abandoned.
Related articles and resources:
IVF: Moral and Ethical Considerations
Christians Must Consider the Moral and Ethical Hazards of IVF