At a Glance
The Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled that frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) are children. This case caused many to realize how little they know about IVF and the principles that drive the practice. Christians feel confused because their instinct is to celebrate anything that has to do with children and life. We will talk about the deeper worldview principles underneath the surface. Did you know that the “baby-making industry” kills more fertilized embryos than the baby-destroying industry each year in the United States? That’s right, the IVF industry kills more babies than abortion does. Guest Katie Faust, sentinel of children’s rights and president of Them Before Us, helps us tackle the complexities of how society’s adult-centric desires impact voiceless children. She reminds us to put children’s rights at the forefront of our cultural conversations. We will also ask if there is an ethical way for believers to participate in IVF.
Special Guest
Katy Faust is Founder and President of Them Before Us, a global movement defending children’s right to their mother and father. She publishes, speaks and testifies widely on why marriage and family are matters of justice for children. Her articles have appeared in Newsweek, USA Today, The Federalist, Public Discourse, WORLD Magazine, The Daily Signal, Washington Examiner, The American Mind, and The American Conservative. She is on the advisory board for the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship. Katy helped design the teen edition of CanaVox which studies sex, marriage and relationships from a natural law perspective. She detailed her philosophy of worldview transmission in her book, Raising Conservative Kids in a Woke City. She and her pastor husband are raising their four children in Seattle.
Resources
What You'll Hear
Using the link above, you can read the transcript or listen along while highlighted text follows the podcast audio.
"The big metanarrative of our faith is that it's always the strong that sacrifice for the weak."
Katy Faust
Quotes
The baby-making industry and the baby-taking industry are two sides of the same child-commodifying coin. Abortion says if a child is unwanted, I can violate their right to life and force them out of existence. And reproductive technologies say if a child is very wanted, I can violate some child’s right to life, and maybe a child’s right to their mother and father, and force them into existence. Both of them make determinations about the rights and well-being of children just based on what adults want.
– Katy Faust [14:11]
Go Deeper
Them Before Us: Why We Need a Global Children’s Rights Movement
Katy Faust & Stacy Manning
You probably know the adult viewpoints on marriage, infertility, reproductive technologies, same-sex parenting, divorce, and adoption. But have you ever considered the kids’ perspective?
Them Before Us has flipped the script on adult-centric attitudes toward marriage, parenthood, and reproductive technologies by framing these issues around a child’s right to be raised by both their mother and father.
Set against a backdrop of sound research, the compelling stories throughout each chapter confirm that a child’s mental, physical, and emotional well-being depends on being loved by the two people responsible for their existence. It’s a paradigm shift that will impact the personal and the political, and reframe every marriage and family conversation across the globe.
Them Before Us dispels many prevalent, harmful myths concerning children’s rights, such as:
- Kids need only love and safety—moms and dads are optional.
- Love makes a family—biology is irrelevant.
- Marriage is about adults—it has nothing to do with kids.
- Children are resilient and will “get over” divorce.
- Studies show “no difference” in outcomes for kids with same-sex parents.
- Sperm and egg donor kids are fortunate because they are so wanted.
- Surrogacy is a great way to help wannabe parents have a baby.
- Reproductive technologies are just like adoption.
Are you tired of a culture that views adults as victims in family matters, when it’s clear that kids are the ones who truly pay the price? If so, we are your people, and this is your movement.
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When the principles of the Bible are understood as a comprehensive worldview, it has tremendous power to work transformation in individuals, families, communities, and even nations. Too often, Christians are ineffective because they have absorbed cultural thinking that is not in alignment with truth.
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