Written by Rebecca Delahunt, Minnesota Family Council's Director of Public Policy

As Minnesota celebrated the sanctity of human life this week, Minnesota Family Council was honored to cohost the leaders of the Center for Bioethics and Culture (CBC), Jennifer Lahl and Kallie Fell, to educate Minnesota lawmakers on in vitro fertilization (IVF) and surrogacy. Jennifer Lahl founded the CBC and continues to lead on bioethical issues with her experience both as a pediatric critical care nurse and her background in bioethics. Kallie Fell serves as the Executive Director of the CBC along with her work as a perinatal nurse. Their free documentaries provide insight on a variety of issues related to bioethics.

We also were honored to host Minnesota’s Dr. Amy Fisher from Allina who helps women and families restore reproductive health by addressing underlying diseases which manifest in the symptom of infertility. Even as Minnesota Family Council seeks to address the concerning practices of the fertility industry, we recognize the painful trial couples face as they walk through infertility. Restorative reproductive medicine (RRM) seeks to help families restore health by working with the body to achieve health rather than causing more harm to the body through the common practices of the fertility industry.

In IVF, sperm and eggs are collected from “donors” by fertility clinics, and fertility doctors seek to successfully create multiple embryos by fertilization in a petri dish. When the individuals providing the genetic material are not going to parent the child, those individuals are selling their own eggs and sperm.