IVF AIN'T MAHA

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Donald Trump is considered to be the most pro-life president in U.S. history because he delivered on his promise to overturn Roe v Wade. However, his recent support for IVF (in-vitro fertilization) has been a cause of consternation for many hardline pro-lifers.

This is the problem when we opt for euphemisms instead of exact language. Pro-Lifers don’t like the label “anti-abortion,” and Pro-Choice-ers don’t like the label “pro-abortion,” but “life” and “choice” are not the issues. Abortion is.

Trump wasn’t even really anti-abortion. He was anti-Roe. He considered it bad law and he wasn’t alone. The late Justice Ginsburg, a staunch pro-abort, thought the same.

That said, I believe Trump is wrong about his support for IVF. However, at least for the purposes of this column, I am not opposing Trump’s position on moral grounds. I’ll explain that in a bit. But first, what is IVF?

Here’s a quick AI description: 1) The patient takes fertility drugs to stimulate the ovaries to produce eggs. 2) The eggs are removed from the ovaries. 3.) The eggs are fertilized with sperm in a laboratory. 4) One or more fertilized eggs are transferred to the uterus. 5)Pregnancy occurs when the embryo attaches to the lining of the uterus.

So what is the problem? Isn’t IVF “pro-life?” Well, yes and no. (And that’s the problem with the language.) IVF is “pro-life” in that the intent is to bring about a new human. And IVF is not pro-life in that for every baby born, there are approximately 15-20 embryonic human beings who are “discarded."

According to the CDC, in 2021, there were 238,000 IVF procedures in the U.S. At 7 to 8 eggs per try, that’s a total of nearly 2 million embryos with only about 100,000 who made it. That means nearly 1.8 million embryonic humans were discarded in 2021, a number that is nearly one million more than the number of reported abortions for the same year.

Perhaps because we are just discarding a microscopic “thing” in a glass tube, it doesn’t bother us as much as “disassembling” a baby-looking thing in the womb - which is what abortion is. But if we are going to argue that life begins at conception, then it doesn’t matter if that child is being pulled out of a womb and dumped into a bio-waste can, or dumped out of a test tube into the same can.

Most institutional religions don’t have a clear position on IVF, but the Catholic Church does:

“Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral. These techniques…infringe the child's right to be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by marriage…They dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act. (CCC 2376-7)

However, according to a Pew poll, only 13% of Catholics believe IVF is wrong. So I can’t get worked up about Catholic pro-lifers criticizing non-Catholic Trump for his position. We need to get our own house in order first.

Meanwhile, though, the more tangible problem with Trump’s support of IVF is that it “ain’t" MAHA - RFK, Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again.”

MAHA is all about going beyond our band-aid medical culture, getting to the root cause of disease, and then doing something about it.

Infertility is as old as Abraham and Sarah, but it’s never been common. Today it is. The World Health Organization reports that 1 in 6 people globally experience infertility. The WHO defines infertility as a “disease” and lists IVF as a “treatment.”

Obviously, IVF is not a treatment for infertility. Just like so many medical “treatments,” it’s a temporary technological workaround. And what it “works around” is the “something else” that is wrong. And what is that?

Well we can start with the fact that women are waiting longer to have children and during this “waiting” many women are chemically altering their reproductive system (with the pill) to not to do the thing that nature wants to do (ovulate). So you might say nature is slapping back.

However, beyond that, and according to a study published in the Journal of Human Reproductive Sciences, PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) is the leading cause of infertility. And, according to the CDC, insulin resistance is a major cause of PCOS. And guess what is the major cause of insulin resistance? Bad diet and lifestyle. Surprise.

Bottom line: IVF “ain’t" MAHA.

Tim Rohr has resided in Guam since 1987. He has raised a family of 11 children, owned several businesses, and is active in local issues via his blog, JungleWatch.info, letters to local publications, and occasional public appearances. He may be contacted at timrohr.guam@gmail.com