Doctor Opens Faith-Based IVF Clinic in Knoxville

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. Dr. John Gordon, a reproductive endocrinologist, left his position as co-director of a fertility clinic near Washington, D.C., in 2019 to open Rejoice Fertility here, a practice that limits embryo creation and prohibits discarding viable embryos, genetic testing or donations to science, driven by his Christian beliefs about the sanctity of embryonic life.

Gordon, 55 at the time of the move, grew troubled during his three decades in the field by the routine creation of surplus embryos that often remained frozen in storage or were discarded. Advances in genetic screening allowed selection based on sex, severe diseases or even conditions like hearing loss, prompting him to question the ethics of the process. Influenced by his wife Allison, who viewed their comfortable life as tied to practices conflicting with their faith, Gordon purchased an existing practice in Knoxville and aligned it with his convictions.

Rejoice Fertility tailors treatments to patients' desired family sizes, prioritizing minimal stimulation IVF, known as mini-IVF, which uses lower doses of fertility drugs to retrieve fewer eggs, or natural cycle IVF that yields one egg per cycle. These...