Surprising as it may seem that pro-life activists would want to stop couples who desperately want children from conceiving, Goldberg notes that its no coincidence that personhood laws would prohibit IVF. Keith Mason, the 30-year-old president of Personhood USA, acknowledges that should these initiatives pass, it would ban some current practices of IVF. He explains his disapproval of the IVF process: The creation of 30 or 60 embryos and then picking through them to see which ones are most likely boys or girls, or basically looking at the ones you want to give life to and destroying the rest.
Mason has also been transparent about his desire to have personhood laws ban birth control as well. Certainly women, my wife included, would want to know if the pills theyre taking would kill a unique human individual, he told NPR.
Although IVF has long been a safe and accepted practice for helping couples struggling with infertility to get pregnant, religious extremists have condemned it for allowing doctors to play God. Ironically, the personhood movement that claims to want to stop the destruction of life actually wants to prevent it from being created. Around 58,000 American IVF babies are born each year, comprising more than 1 percent of all births in the U.S.
'Pro-Life' Measure Advancing In Several States Could Ban Some Couples From Conceiving Children | ThinkProgress