(Washington) The main Protestant Church in the United States, the Southern Baptist Convention, voted on Wednesday to condemn in vitro fertilization (IVF), according to American media, a sensitive and very political subject in the run-up to the November presidential election. .
At their annual convention, thousands of delegates approved a resolution asserting that IVF “most often contributes to the destruction of embryonic human life and increasingly uses dehumanizing methods to determine fitness for life “.
The text argues that this method “systematically generates more embryos than can be safely implanted,” ultimately leading to the “destruction” of human embryos.
He therefore calls on members of the Church to “reaffirm the unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including at an embryonic stage, and to use only reproductive techniques that are consistent with this affirmation, particularly with regard to the number of embryos generated in IVF.”
He thus urges to encourage adoption, including of embryos, and to use already existing frozen embryos instead of creating new ones.
Since the US Supreme Court ended the constitutional guarantee of the right to abortion in 2022, advocates for the right to abortion have been concerned that medically assisted procreation (MAP) and in particular IVF would be affected.
In February, the Supreme Court of the very conservative state of Alabama said it considered frozen embryos to be “children,” a decision described as “scandalous” by Democratic President Joe Biden.
Faced with national outcry, elected officials in Alabama ended up adopting a law aimed at protecting IVF.
The affair, directly linked to the debate on abortion, quickly rose to the top of the electoral campaign. It illustrates a certain unease within the conservative camp which calls itself resolutely “pro-life”. However, suspending IVF is, for some, in contradiction with the defense of the family and traditional values.
