Embryo Adoption Explained: Moral Questions Every Catholic Must Understand (Dr. Elizabeth Rex) - 11/17/25

11/17/25 - Dr. Elizabeth Rex, president and co-founder of the Children First Foundation and one of the nation's leading advocates for "snowflake" embryo adoption, joins us for an in-depth Catholic examination of the moral questions surrounding the rescue and implantation of frozen embryos. Drawing on decades of pro-life research and testimony, Dr. Rex explains how embryo adoption developed in response to the explosion of IVF practices that left hundreds of thousands of tiny human beings abandoned in cryogenic storage, and she walks through the key points of contention within Catholic moral theology, including debates sparked by Dignitas Personae, concerns about whether adoption constitutes illicit "heterologous procreation," and the moral distinction between creating embryos versus rescuing already existing ones. She discusses real cases of families who have adopted embryos, the pastoral questions couples face, the urgent need for clarity as IVF expands in the United States, and why she believes embryo adoption represents a life-affirming and morally defensible response to the crisis of frozen human persons.