Listing ethical and spiritual problems with IVF is not for the purpose of condemnation, but rather to give a full idea of why one might need healing, to get to the heart of the issues, and to give you clarity in your reflection going forward. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, and you may not have experienced every issue which we will list in this section.

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• (For the husband specifically) You had to masturbate to provide a specimen of sperm.

  • You may now recognize that masturbation is intrinsically disordered.(1)​

• (For the wife specifically) You experienced health issues as a result of hyperstimulation of the ovaries and extraction of your egg(s).(2)

• ​You feel that you were rash or unreasonable in your pursuit of pregnancy at any cost.

  • You realize that the action was generally sinful, and that certain parts were explicitly immoral.​

  • You realize that you were fighting God's will to act on your own will for your life.

  • You are still dealing with the wounds of infertility, whether or not you were able to conceive and have a successful pregnancy with IVF.

  • You are still dealing with the root physical cause of infertility.

• The process of IVF has placed strain on your relationship with your spouse.

• You used the (masturbated) sample of donor sperm.

• You used the egg(s) of a donor.

  • Often egg donors are exploited and suffer health consequences.(3)​

• If you used donor egg or sperm, and you have a living child from IVF, you grapple with the difference in biological parentage of your child, or your child does.

• The cost of the procedure was overwhelming and caused financial strain on you/your family.

• The lack of oversight and regulation caused concern of lab practices.(4)

• You had a child/children already and neglected them emotionally while preoccupied with the IVF process.

• You ended the process without a successful pregnancy.

• You are now suffering with PTSD, anxiety, or other mental health problems.

• You created embryo(s) in a depersonalized way outside of the marital act.

  • You had embryo(s) discarded based on initial appearances.(5)​

  • You had embryo(s) discarded based on genetic tests.

  • You had embryo(s) frozen (and some still frozen)

    • You had frozen embryo(s) thawed which then died.​

    • You had frozen embryo(s) donated to scientific research.

    • You had frozen embryo(s) thawed and inserted which did not survive to implant.

  • You had successful implantation but early miscarriage.

  • You had a successful pregnancy but chose to selectively reduce (abort) extra fetuses in order to keep the pregnancy manageable.

  • You had a successful pregnancy and birth and struggle with complicated guilt about the process mixed with the joy of parenthood.

  • You had a successful pregnancy and birth but your child(ren) have birth defects stemming from their conception via IVF.

  • You donated embryo(s) to another couple, and now grapple with the knowledge of a biologically related child living unaware of you.

    • If you have other living children, they have related full or half-siblings living unaware of them, possibly affecting future dating/marriage relationships.

• You pursued other options such as a surrogate or a gestational carrier.

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(1)CCC 2252, 2376-2377

(2)A Comprehensive Report on the Risks of ART, pgs 8-10

(3)Commodification and Exploitation in Egg Donation

(4)The fertility industry is poorly regulated

(5)Embryo Grading (there is no direct correlation between appearance of the embryo [fragmenting] and later health; this process essentially amounts to ableism or discrimination based on appearance)