In The Nobel Prize That Wasn’t , today’s second “On the Square” feature, our managing editor Mary Rose Somarriba explains why “why this year’s Nobel Prize for the discovery of IVF represents a failure.”
Aimed at creating fertilized embryos, IVF destroys many more than it creates. Aimed at producing successful pregnancies, IVF results in twice as many failed attempts as successes. Aimed at healing the traumatic experience of infertility for many women, IVF brings with it a multitude of traumatic experiences for women—including years of failed attempts, miscarriages, and the difficult choice of which baby to abort when a prospective mother finds she has conceived more embryos than she could bring to term.
A man should not be rewarded with medicine’s highest prize for inventing a technology that depends on, and encourages, the disregard of human persons.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
