Alicia Amos cried for her 3-year-old daughter when she learned of the Southern Baptist Convention’s resolution issued Wednesday opposing the widespread practice of in vitro fertilization.
Her healthy infant was conceived through in vitro fertilization and is now among the approximately 2 percent of babies born each year as a result of this procedure.
Amos, 32, who grew up Southern Baptist and still attends a church in Missouri with her husband, is not “disparaging” the convention or the delegates who voted in favor of the resolution.
But she doesn’t want her daughter to get hurt.
“I never want her to feel ashamed that she came into this world because she is a precious and irreplaceable gift,” Amos said.
Southern Baptist women who spoke to NBC News said they were already battling infertility or undergoing IVF in ways that were consistent with their faith before the Indianapolis emissaries backed a resolution opposing the common practice of IVF.
Some of these women’s beliefs include conservative positions on where life begins, but many say the issues raised in the resolution, such as what to do with spare embryos and genetic testing of embryos, are complex and lack a consensus among Christians.
For some, the tone of the resolution was deeply hurtful.
While the document acknowledges the “searing pain” of infertility, it characterizes certain aspects of IVF as “inhuman,” arguing that “not all technological means of aiding human reproduction are equally godly or morally justifiable.”
“The term ‘dehumanization’ is very difficult to accept,” said Danielle Smith, 39, a Southern Baptist from Alabama who conceived her 2-year-old daughter through IVF.
The conference’s criticism of IVF comes at a time when churches are struggling with declining attendance, younger generations are turning away from religion and one in six adults worldwide experiences infertility.
The sect’s membership has declined in recent years and is expected to fall to just below 13 million by 2023.
The bill also comes in an election year, with Republicans touting their support for reproductive technology in recent Senate proposals while seeking to block Democratic-led efforts to protect reproductive health care.
At the national level, Republicans have sought to defend themselves against the fierce backlash against the Alabama Supreme Court’s February ruling that recognized frozen embryos as children, but the SBC’s resolution supporting the court’s position urges members to demand government action on the issue.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana and a Southern Baptist, did not participate in Wednesday’s debate, but told NBC News that long-term storage of fertilized eggs poses an “ethical dilemma” for lawmakers who believe life begins at conception.
“So if we could achieve that by just creating a small number of embryos, I think that’s a legislative solution that a lot of people are exploring,” he said, “but here in Congress we’re pro-IVF, we’re pro-family, we’re pro-sanctity of life, and I think that’s part of it.”
Candace Kelm, 39, said she doesn’t know whether the government should regulate IVF, but she supports the resolution encouraging what it called “embryo adoption,” a procedure in which a patient or couple agrees to donate their remaining embryos to someone else.
Kelm, a Southern Baptist from Texas, had struggled to conceive despite trying fertility treatments and undergoing surgery for endometriosis. Doctors told her IVF was her last option. But prayer led her down a different path.
“We felt like we didn’t have the option to create more embryos when we already had so many,” said Kelm, who supports the SBC’s opposition to embryo disposal. She received support from Waiting in Hope, an interdenominational group for couples struggling with infertility.
In a statement, the group encouraged couples “not to destroy fertilized eggs,” but noted that it was “important to note that Christians have a range of views on IVF” and there was “disagreement about which procedures may be ethically problematic.”
“It is not up to us to decide whether God will guide a couple through IVF,” the statement said. “God is the author of life and our fertility story.”
Kelm and her husband, Brent, ultimately “adopted” eight embryos and conducted four transfers.
“We lost all eight of our members and we are deeply saddened by their loss,” she said.
Kelm acknowledges that without IVF she would have had no choice, and she doesn’t want her family to be stigmatized for undergoing the procedure.
“I want people to remember that every child is a gift from God,” she said, “and not just because they were created that way.”
Amos and her husband endured heartbreak before they welcomed their baby girl into the world.
Amos still remembers finding herself crying on the shower floor that November morning in 2019. After a third intrauterine insemination, she tested negative again.
She said she found herself telling God, “I can’t go on any more.”
Like Kelm, her faith also shaped what she did next: In July 2020, she began an IVF embryo transfer.
Kelm declined to give details about her plans for the remaining embryos because she doesn’t want others to feel judged.
Amos also noted that while adoption, which the resolution encourages, is a decision some families make, it’s also a complex issue. “The phrase ‘adoption only’ can be very harmful in the fertility community,” he said. Amos said the phrase can also put pressure on adopted people, putting them in a role they shouldn’t be filling.
This winter, Smith drove to Montgomery to lobby Alabama lawmakers to protect IVF.
She said her upbringing has caused her to struggle with some decisions — for example, she chose not to undergo genetic testing — and she understands that some people believe life begins at conception.
“It’s not so simple to say that IVF should be condemned and is immoral because it can destroy fertilized eggs,” she said.
“I want those who are expressing their opinions to understand that they are probably hurting someone that they care about and love,” Smith continued. “These congregations are going to be full of IVF parents, IVF babies, IVF children, and it really breaks my heart for all of us in this situation who would never have been parents otherwise.”
She said people at her church supported her: A women’s group prayed over her when she struggled with infertility and blessed her when her daughter was born.
She still plans to go to church on Sunday.
“The Southern Baptist Convention does not define my personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” Smith said.
