Why are so many Catholic couples seeking alternatives to IVF?
For Dr. Christopher Stroud, a Catholic OB-GYN, the answer is deeply personal and spiritual. Once a provider of birth control and IVF referrals, his life took a dramatic turn after a confession in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
“It changed my life,” Stroud said of that confession. “Probably for all eternity, it changed my life” (according to Catholic News Agency).
That single moment of truth transformed not only his conscience but the course of his entire medical practice.
How NaProTechnology Offers a Catholic Alternative to IVF
Rather than continue practices that contradict Church teaching, Dr. Stroud embraced Natural Procreative Technology (NaProTechnology)—a life-affirming, Church-aligned medical model for diagnosing and treating fertility challenges.
Unlike IVF, which bypasses the marital act and often involves the destruction or indefinite freezing of human embryos, NaProTechnology seeks to treat the root causes of infertility using sound medical science and moral integrity.
Stroud explained the contrast clearly:
“Everywhere else in contemporary medicine, we use symptoms to point to a disease state, and then we treat the disease state; then we ask, did the symptom go away?”
“Infertility is a symptom — it’s not a diagnosis,” he said (according to CNA).
Trained at the St. Paul VI Institute in Nebraska, Stroud opened a clinic in Fort Wayne, Indiana, dedicated to this approach. Since then, the demand has skyrocketed, and couples now wait up to six months for an appointment. The clinic has helped create a “wall of babies” — photos sent in gratitude by families once thought infertile.
“We are blessed with a busy, busy practice,” Stroud said.
Dr. Teresa Hilgers, an OB-GYN at the St. Paul VI Institute, shares the same passion for NaPro’s potential:
“So many” couples “no longer need medical support to achieve future pregnancies,” she said. By bringing fertility “back to life,” NaProTechnology allows couples to cooperate with, not manipulate, the gift of human life.
What the Church Teaches—and Why It Matters
Why does the Catholic Church oppose IVF? It’s not out of cruelty, but out of a commitment to uphold the dignity of life and the sanctity of the marital bond.
“Children are a gift. They’re not a right,” said Stroud. “If they were a right, they’d be property, which is part of the problem with IVF — they do become property” (CNA).
The Church teaches that marital intimacy must remain both unitive and procreative. IVF severs this connection by removing the marital act from conception, violating the integrity of marriage and introducing a technological domination over life itself (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2377).
Moreover, IVF often results in more ethical dilemmas: the destruction of embryos, freezing of human life, and difficult decisions about what to do with “unused” embryos.
“Many babies are lost to create one new life,” said Hilgers. “IVF is very destructive.”
Hilgers also challenged the medical assumptions:
“Many do not realize that IVF is not good medicine,” she said, noting its low success rates and increased risks for preterm labor and birth defects.
A Message to Catholic Couples Struggling with Infertility
What hope is there for Catholic couples who suffer the silent heartbreak of infertility?
Stroud’s message is clear:
“You don’t have to choose between the tenets of your faith and your fertility,” he said. “Unexplained infertility is, more times than not, uninvestigated infertility.”
Hilgers added that many couples are told their condition is “unexplained,” when in fact, “a proper evaluation was never done.”
Above all, Stroud calls Catholics to lead with compassion:
“We’ve got to remember that as Catholics, we’re not condemning, we’re educating,” he said. “And the people that we’re talking to often are very, very wounded and vulnerable.”
Even as he challenges the ethics of IVF, Stroud is careful to affirm the dignity of all life:
“The children created by IVF are children of God — created in his image and likeness.”
Embracing Faithful Fertility Care
For couples struggling to conceive, NaProTechnology offers more than just medical hope — it offers peace of conscience. It respects the union of marriage, protects the sanctity of life, and, as Hilgers says, ensures that “the dignity of everyone involved, the woman, her husband, and children are respected.”
As the wall of baby photos at Stroud’s clinic continues to grow, so does the witness of a fertility practice grounded not in domination, but in love.
“It’s emotional,” Stroud admits, still moved by the lives his clinic has helped bring into the world — lives conceived in both faith and science, fully aligned with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
