Final Thoughts on IVF Objections (For Now)

Last week, I wrote a short post opposing IVF. After receiving firm pushback in the comments, I responded to some of the most common objections in a much longer article. Predictably, there were more counterarguments posed to my follow-up article. I won’t do a point-by-point response, but there is one sort of “whataboutism” that keeps coming up, which indicates that people have misunderstood some of my key points. Perhaps I was unclear, and that’s my fault, so I’ll explain further.

Here’s a brief summary of one section that proved to be the most controversial: I argued that, in all instances of IVF, “the human child is still a product born from commercial transaction.” I further explained that “IVF technology — even when controlling for secondary effects in a complex hypothetical — necessarily treats human beings as a commercial product and property, and this dynamic cannot be changed by any policy.” In more plain language, I summarized that “lengthy terms and conditions pages must be signed [in IVF] for the child to be conceived.” I distinguished this from custody disputes and adoption, which do not affect whether the child exists.

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Abigail Anthony

Abigail Anthony is a staff writer at National Review.

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Last week, I wrote a short post opposing IVF. After receiving firm pushback in the comments, I responded to some of the most common objections in a much longer article. Predictably, there were more counterarguments posed to my follow-up article. I won’t do a point-by-point response, but there is one sort of “whataboutism” that keeps coming up, which indicates that people have misunderstood some of my key points. Perhaps I was unclear, and that’s my fault, so I’ll explain further.

Here’s a brief summary of one section that proved to be the most controversial: I argued that, in all instances of IVF, “the human child is still a product born from commercial transaction.” I further explained that “IVF technology — even when controlling for secondary effects in a complex hypothetical — necessarily treats human beings as a commercial product and property, and this dynamic cannot be changed by any policy.” In more plain language, I summarized that “lengthy terms and conditions pages must be signed [in IVF] for the child to be conceived.” I distinguished this from custody disputes and adoption, which do not affect whether the child exists.