Podcast Summary: Them Before Us #091

Episode Title: Conceived by IVF & Sharing Pro-Life Views on Campus
Host: Jennifer Friesen (A)
Guest: Maddie (B), Pro-life Advocate, Conceived via IVF
Date: September 19, 2025

Overview

This episode delves into the personal story of Maddie, a young woman conceived through IVF, who now actively advocates for pro-life issues both online and through her work with Georgia Right to Life. The conversation explores her upbringing, the family’s discovery of ethical challenges related to IVF, and Maddie’s journey sharing her pro-life stance on college campuses and social media. The episode is a mix of personal reflection, ethical inquiry, and advocacy, aiming to illuminate the complexities facing families created via assisted reproductive technology.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Maddie’s Family & IVF Discovery

• Background
  • Maddie grew up in a Christian household with one older brother and continues to attend her childhood church.
    [00:32] B: "I grew up in a Christian household... have one older brother, and I still go to the church that I was born at."
  • She was told at age 9 or 10 by her parents that she and her brother were conceived via IVF.
  • Maddie initially found her conception story novel and cool, using it as an icebreaker.
    [00:53] B: "Honestly, I thought it was really cool... Like it was my fun fact."

The Family’s Ethical Realization on IVF

• Delayed Awareness
  • Both Maddie and her parents became aware of the ethical dilemmas of IVF only much later, around the same time Maddie became active in the pro-life movement.
    [02:02] B: "I think my parents and I went through the same discovery of the ethical horrors of IVF around the same time."
  • The family trusted their doctor’s assurance of an "ethical approach," planning to fertilize and implant all embryos, not realizing lives would still be lost.
    [02:28] B: "They thought it was completely ethical... we both kind of discovered lives were still, you know, lives still died in that process just a couple of years ago."
  • Maddie was initially reluctant to confront the ethical inconsistencies of IVF with her pro-life views but eventually chose to research thoroughly.
    [03:13] B: "I kind of just ignored it. And I did very minimal research. I did more so biased research..."

Causes of Choosing IVF

• Infertility Causes and Parental Experience
  • Maddie’s mother’s infertility was linked to long-term hormonal birth control, and a medical procedure further complicated her ability to conceive.
    [04:04] B: "It was very difficult for her to get her hormones in balance... because of the hormonal birth control."
  • The family considered adoption but ultimately received familial financial help to pursue IVF.
  • Her parents sought pastoral counsel and tried to act ethically in the process, but lacked full informed consent.
    [05:31] B: "I don't fault my parents for going through ivf. I don't think that they were in sin doing it, because I don't think that they had the full knowledge..."

Emotional Impact & Family Conversation

• Processing Loss and Guilt

  • Maddie’s mother implanted all fertilized eggs and is relieved none were frozen, but mourns for the embryos that did not survive.
    [07:16] B: "My mom does... mourn her other babies, and she realizes that even the ones that weren't implanted, those were her babies."

• Family Dialogue

  • Conversations about IVF ethics were gradual, prayerful, and mutually supportive.
    [09:25] B: "It was a very gradual conversation, and we were able to grow with it together... we're all on the same page now."
  • Maddie felt a weight in being the one to bring harsh truths to her parents, yet they were open and shared a foundation in faith.

Pro-Life Activism and Campus Engagement

• Pro-Life Advocacy Roots

  • Maddie began by making pro-life videos on TikTok, later joining Students for Life at UGA, then interning and now working at Georgia Right to Life in communications.
    [12:13] B: "I was making tiktoks pro life tiktoks... then I joined Students for Life on campus."

• Tabling on Campus

  • She has tabled at UGA, facing a spectrum of reactions—open dialogue, hostility, and the occasional mind changed. [12:54] B: "Some people would come up and they're willing and open to have a conversation... but a lot of the times... they're very passionate about the fact that you should be able to kill your baby because that is your choice, that's your body."
  • Uses logic-based questioning and calmly engages, referencing Greg Koukl’s “pebble in the shoe” tactic and sharing the gospel where possible.

The Ethics of IVF from Maddie’s Perspective

• Quick Case Against IVF
  • Maddie emphasizes that IVF, by design, results in embryo loss—human lives—and that her own existence depended on God’s sovereignty, not medical luck.
    [17:38] B: "In the process of manufacturing life, IVF inherently destroys life... They just sat there and watched me. And if it weren't for the sovereignty and grace of God, I wouldn't be here."
  • She laments the commodification of human life and the lack of dignity afforded to embryos, regardless of religious framing.
    [18:52] B: "It's just not okay to treat human beings, creatures made in the image of God as a commodity."

Brother’s Perspective

• Not Universally Impactful
  • Maddie’s brother is pro-life but less engaged; his journey has been more detached.
    [19:43] B: "I would say he is pro life, but he's not necessarily been involved in any kind of politics... I don't think it's anything that's ever necessarily just affected his thought process."

Ongoing Work & Public Outreach

• Current Role

  • Maddie now works full-time at Georgia Right to Life, focusing on communications and promoting a constitutional personhood amendment in Georgia due to persistent loopholes in the existing “heartbeat law.”
    [15:55] B: "We're here promoting a personhood amendment in the Georgia constitution so that we can abolish abortion..."

• Where to Find Maddie

  • Georgia Right to Life: www.grtl.org
  • TikTok: @thatconservativegirl
    [20:46] B: "If you want to look up Georgia right to life, it's www.grtl.org... on Tiktok... that conservative girl."

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On discovering the ethics of IVF:

  "They thought it was completely ethical... we both kind of discovered lives were still, you know, lives still died in that process just a couple of years ago." — Maddie, [02:28]

• On the weight of informing her parents:

  "I was the one to actually inform my parents that life is inherently destroyed, that IVF has a higher death toll than abortion..." — Maddie, [10:59]

• On having honest campus conversations:

  "I really just, I try to bring everyone back to just logic. And if we are not human from the very beginning, what are we?" — Maddie, [13:44]

• Summing up the ethical issue with IVF:

  "In the process of manufacturing life, IVF inherently destroys life." — Maddie, [17:39]

• On how to approach sensitive family discussion:

  "It was a very gradual conversation, and we were able to grow with it together." — Maddie, [09:35]

• Host’s encouragement on student outreach:

  "Greg Koukl wrote a book called 'Tactics' and he talks about leaving a pebble in someone's shoe..." — Jennifer, [15:00]

Important Timestamps

• 00:32: Maddie describes childhood and learning about IVF conception
• 02:02: Discussion of parents’ (lack of) informed consent and mutual discovery of IVF’s ethical issues
• 04:01: Roots of parents’ infertility; role of birth control and family support in IVF decision
• 07:02: Details on how many embryos were fertilized, implanted, and survived
• 09:25: Navigating delicate conversations with her parents about IVF and pro-life views
• 12:13: Maddie’s start in pro-life activism, TikTok advocacy, and campus involvement
• 15:55: Efforts with Georgia Right to Life and personhood movement in Georgia
• 17:38: Maddie’s core ethical objections to IVF explained
• 19:43: Reflection on her brother’s response and different perspectives within families
• 20:46: Where to find Maddie and Georgia Right to Life online

Closing Thoughts

Maddie’s story bridges personal experience, ethical wrestling, and activism, illustrating the internal conflicts faced by children conceived via IVF in pro-life families. Her willingness to process these issues with her parents offers a model for open, faith-based dialogue, while her advocacy provides a unique, personal angle in the pro-life debate—particularly relevant as IVF becomes more culturally prominent. The episode is informative for listeners seeking to understand complex family, ethical, and social dynamics around third-party reproduction technologies.