Body
Dr. John Gordon, a reproductive endocrinologist in Knoxville, Tennessee, has reorganized his fertility practice around a set of Christian concerns that he says became harder to square with mainstream IVF as medical capabilities expanded. After decades working in fertility care, Gordon moved away from practices he viewed as morally problematic—particularly the creation of surplus embryos, their potential discard, and the genetic screening choices couples can make during IVF. In an account of his career pivot, Gordon described his approach as one he could “live with” in light of the decisions IVF forces on patients.
Gordon said his doubts began while he served as co-director of a fertility clinic in suburban Washington, D.C., where he grew troubled by how IVF can produce more embryos than a couple plans to transfer. He focused on how surplus embryos often remain in storage or are discarded, and he also described concern tied to genetic testing that can be used for sex selection and for screening out diseases and other impairments. “It’s too morally problematic,” Gordon thought, “I don’t know where you draw the line.”
Gordon said his wife, Allison Gordon, pushed him in 2018 to change how he practiced. The couple both linked their decisions to the sanctity of embryos through their Christian faith. Together, they moved toward what Gordon presented as a faith-based model of IVF that he later implemented by buying a practice in Knoxville and aligning it with his evolving views, opening Rejoice Fertility.
Rejoice’s approach centers on embryo handling. Gordon said the clinic does not discard viable embryos, does not genetically test embryos, and limits how many embryos it creates. The clinic draws patients “from around the country,” and its waiting room includes evangelical materials along with a wooden cross, while a Bible verse appears on site: “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Gordon’s model has attracted patients who say they want IVF while avoiding what they see as ethically incompatible steps. In January, Maggie and Cade Lichfield, who are Latter-day Saints, held an ultrasound photo after a confirmed pregnancy following three failed embryo transfers, and they said they understood IVF’s controversies but appreciated that Rejoice does not genetically test or discard embryos. “You’re still letting God be God,” Maggie Lichfield said. Domenic and Olivia D’Agostino, who are also religiously motivated, said they had not planned on pursuing IVF until they found Rejoice, nearly two hours from their Tennessee home, and they pointed to the clinic’s refusal to discard embryos as a key difference from other providers.
Gordon said he shares the couple’s interest in Reformed theology and the idea of God’s sovereignty “in it and submitting to God’s will in this process.” Domenic D’Agostino said Gordon’s support includes praying with couples before transfers. “My favorite thing that he does is he prays with us before transfers,” he said, adding that Gordon emphasized the sovereignty of God throughout fertility treatment.
The clinic’s leadership includes Sarah Coe Atkinson, Rejoice’s senior embryologist, who oversees the lab. Atkinson said Rejoice does not require employees or patients to share Gordon’s religious beliefs, describing her role as helping embryos become lives. “I don’t necessarily believe in everything he believes in, but I believe in what we’re doing in terms of helping these embryos become lives,” she said. Atkinson said the lab accepts almost any embryo “no matter its condition,” and she has told patients that “sometimes the ugliest embryos make the prettiest babies.”
Rejoice has also handled embryos that Atkinson and Gordon say show the clinic’s emphasis on long-term storage and rescue. In one case, the clinic cared for a donated embryo that had been frozen for nearly 31 years, and Atkinson said a child was born in 2025. The report described that birth as breaking what is believed to be a record for the longest-frozen embryo to result in a birth. To train others, Atkinson created a library of older embryo storage devices, including written instructions that feature a warning that an old glass ampule “Might explode.”
Gordon said his approach is also designed to reduce the number of embryos created during IVF cycles by offering treatments that use less fertility medication. He said the clinic specializes in IVF cycles with fewer fertility drugs—an approach he described as more affordable and generally resulting in fewer eggs—so couples can fertilize a smaller number of eggs. Gordon acknowledged a downside: if patients go through their small number of embryos and need another IVF cycle, the report said IVF at Rejoice typically costs between $8,000 and $10,000.
Despite those tradeoffs, Gordon said many of his patients want to create fewer embryos because of their beliefs. The report included the experience of Emily Martin, who described being “haunted by the handful of embryos” she has in storage and said she has felt heaviness and wakefulness at night while considering what was done. Martin said she wishes she had found Rejoice earlier, before making more embryos than she would use elsewhere, describing the issue of embryo creation as something she felt was “not being talked about enough.”
In rare cases where patients have unused embryos, Gordon said he asks that they be placed for adoption. The clinic’s staff and patients refer to embryo donations as embryo adoptions, a term tied to conservative Christian views that treat embryos “not as property but as children.” The report also described Rejoice Embryo Rescue, which Gordon called an “orphanage,” and said it stores donated embryos and works with agencies—most of them Christian—that specialize in coordinating embryo adoptions.
The report also described how couples have navigated embryo rescue through their communities. Adrienne and Colby McKnight, who considered traditional adoption before they heard about adopting embryos through their homeschooling community in Augusta, Georgia, said they adopted an embryo named Gloria that had been frozen 11 years. They said they grieved when the first transfer did not result in a pregnancy but remained grateful, and said they recently adopted two additional embryos through Rejoice.
Gordon linked his efforts to a broader tension between religious commitment and professional practice. “It’s hard to be torn between your faith and your work,” Gordon said, invoking a biblical passage about “faith through our works.” He said his religious upbringing changed over time: Gordon was raised Jewish outside Boston and later experienced what he described as a conversion, after which he joined a mainline Presbyterian church and was baptized in 2000. Today, Gordon and his family are part of the conservative evangelical Presbyterian Church in America, and the report said elders from Christ Covenant support Rejoice’s mission.
The report placed Rejoice’s choices within a national debate that has intensified in recent years around IVF and embryo status. It said recent legal decisions have prompted broader questions about IVF, referencing the U.S. Supreme Court ending federal abortion rights and the Alabama Supreme Court designating embryos as children, while noting that IVF remains popular in polling and that President Donald Trump has taken steps to expand access. It also said Trump’s conservative Christian base is less supportive of IVF, with the Catholic Church long opposing IVF and evangelicals increasingly grappling with it, including a 2024 call from the Southern Baptist Convention for IVF restrictions when it destroys “embryonic human life.” Gordon said his practice is his response to those moral concerns, and the report described him as planning to bring on additional doctors after his shift.