The Myth of Moral Neutrality
Watch on YouTube →"Either the Bible is right that children are a blessing, or you're right that children will ruin your life. But you can't both be right." That's what a mentor said to Emma Waters after she broke up with the man who is now her husband because she was convinced children would ruin her life. Three daughters later, she works in reproductive technology policy, and she has a very different explanation for what's happening in women's health than the one you're hearing on the news. In this episode of Rethinking Fertility, Emma shares her own story: from offering to be a surrogate at seventeen, to briefing Congress after Alabama's 2024 embryo ruling, to landing on root-cause reproductive medicine as the path forward for couples facing infertility. THIS EPISODE DIVES INTO • Why the women questioning hormonal birth control don't feel misled — and why "misinformation crisis" is the wrong diagnosis • The pastoral counseling conversation that made Emma reconsider the hormonal IUD • Why cycle tracking, Natural Cycles and the Oura Ring took off with women who aren't religious at all • The moment Emma broke up with her boyfriend over the fear of motherhood — and the mentor question that undid it • "The Myth of Moral Neutrality": what the research on family structure actually shows • What the Alabama Supreme Court really ruled in early 2024, and what the headlines got wrong • Why better regulation of assisted reproduction still can't answer the deeper infertility question • Millions of frozen embryos, rising infertility, endometriosis, PCOS and male factor infertility • Where root-cause reproductive medicine overlaps with the Make America Healthy Again movement • What this show will cover, including guidance for families with embryos in storage 0:00 The "misinformation crisis" the media can't explain 0:51 Seventeen years old and offering to be a surrogate 1:45 What Emma watched her friends go through on the pill 2:51 The pastor's question about the hormonal IUD 3:57 Cycle tracking, Natural Cycles and the Oura Ring 4:24 "I broke up with him because I thought children would ruin my life" 5:25 The mentor question Emma couldn't answer 6:04 Married four years, two daughters, one on the way 7:21 Falling in love with marriage and family research 8:01 The Myth of Moral Neutrality 9:35 The pandemic detour that started a career 10:42 What does it mean to be human in a technological age? 11:42 Pitching a think tank on a policy beat that didn't exist 12:23 Alabama's 2024 embryo ruling changes everything 13:39 The question IVF regulation can't answer 14:02 Frozen embryos, endometriosis, PCOS and male factor infertility 14:52 Root-cause care and the MAHA overlap 15:20 What this show is really about 15:54 Join me Rethinking Fertility exists to equip families with honest, evidence-based education on reproductive technology, grounded in science and a biblical understanding of the human person. FOLLOW RETHINKING FERTILITY Linktree → https://linktr.ee/rethinkingfertility #RethinkingFertility #Infertility #WomensHealth #FertilityAwareness #ReproductiveHealth #CycleTracking #Endometriosis #PCOS #RootCauseMedicine #EmmaWaters