He waited for 31 years to be born

Thaddeus (Thad) Daniel Pierce isn’t a typical baby. He took his first breath 31.6 years after he was conceived! Thad was frozen in time. Thad is similar to another newborn who was frozen for 30 years and then birthed by a mother who was in her early 30s. Thad’s story raises all kinds of questions and concerns.

In the meantime, Congress is about to wade into this controversy by using our federal tax dollars to give the military a blank check for unlimited in vitro fertilization (IVF). We the taxpayers would be paying to create an unlimited number of children like Thad with an unrestricted number of IVF treatments — and taxpayers would have to cover ALL THE EXPENSES!

Congress needs to hear from you now as it is debating the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes this IVF provision. Below I will share some disturbing data that sheds more light on this critically important matter. Tell Congress NOT to force us to pay for IVF experiments.

This decision to include IVF funding in the NDAA is being actively discussed on Capitol Hill right now. We have been told by congressional leadership that they want to hear from you.

The story of Baby Thad begins in 1994. His mom (Linda) and dad could not conceive, so they went to an IVF clinic where they provided their sperm and eggs. Four embryos survived the initial process. The one chosen first is Thad’s sister, a woman his exact same age, who was born 30 years ago and now has a 10-year-old daughter.

Linda wanted more children, but then her marriage dissolved. Ten months ago, Thad and the two other embryos were offered to a loving couple. One baby didn’t survive the thawing process. Two were implanted. Only Thad grew. If that weren’t complex enough, Thad’s adoptive father is only a couple years older than Thad.

Thad’s arrival may sound like a miracle — the world’s “oldest baby” on record. Yet behind the miracle lies an industry shaped by decisions akin to playing God with millions of children.

IVF clinics are virtually unregulated. They decide who lives or dies, or who remains suspended in time in cryogenic freezers. Embryos in fertility clinics are often graded — evaluated and selected based on criteria like eye color, gender, or perceived IQ — then discarded, used for experiments, or left frozen indefinitely. Life, in that sterile process, is treated like inventory products — graded to determine worth, not valued as a unique human being.

Now, legislators want to increase IVF on a scale that wasn’t even imaginable before now. And they want YOU to pay for these human experiments. Tell them to stop.

IVF is very expensive, generating about 45 billion dollars annually, profiting off of parents’ desire for connection, community, and family — all while this industry intrinsically causes the deaths of embryos in the freezing process, or others that are intentionally discarded, or are slated for frivolous but deadly experiments.

The average cost is about 15,000 to 30,000 dollars per cycle; however, couples often repeat this process multiple times. However, if taxpayers fund blank checks for IVF through the NDAA, these costs would explode. And for those who morally object to IVF, even the death of one child through this process burdens their conscience, let alone the many babies who die each time.

Storing frozen embryos costs families about 1,000 dollars each year just to keep their children “on ice.” The only reason that Thad is here is because of his birth mom. Linda, who called Thad and his two other siblings her “three little hopes,” paid an annual fee of 1,000 dollars for the last 30 years to keep them frozen. She didn’t feel comfortable birthing three more children but morally couldn’t abandon them.

But if the federal government now wants to foot the bill for military IVF, then this will create even more “snowflake” babies, as those who are frozen and then later born are called. Millions of babies are currently frozen. Some abandoned. Some forgotten. Some used for experiments. Some discarded.

Taxpayers should not be compelled to underwrite a system where human life is frozen, graded, discarded, used for experiments, detached from any real sense of personal dignity. Urge Congress not to fund IVF in the NDAA.

There are life-affirming, morally sound alternatives to IVF. Restorative reproductive medicine, as promoted in the RESTORE Act, focuses on treating the medical causes of infertility rather than creating — and freezing — excess embryos. Congress must reject taxpayer funding and respect human dignity from conception to birth.

Take urgent action now. Congress is deciding whether YOU should foot the bill for unlimited IVF — without moral constraints. Please send your faxes now to key Representatives and Senators and oppose taxpayer funding for this costly, ethically complex system.

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