A Florida couple, Tiffany and Steve, recently made headlines for suing an Orlando-based IVF clinic over an embryo mix-up that led to the birth of a baby girl named Shea, who is not genetically related to them. They underwent an IVF procedure in a fertility clinic that produced embryonic children in vitro (a lab petri dish).  The clinic then made an egregious error and transferred the wrong embryo into Tiffany.  She became pregnant, carried, and gave birth to someone else’s child.  The whereabouts of Tiffany and Steve’s own embryonic children remain uncertain.  A recent update from the family’s GoFundMe post states that Shea’s biological parents have been identified and a mutual agreement has been reached for Tiffany and Steve to have full custody and raise Shea as her parents.[1]  

 

Sadly, this is not the first embryo mix-up, nor is it likely to be the last. A recent worldwide study found that most IVF errors involved mix-ups leading to the transfer of the wrong embryo (95%), and the majority of reported IVF incidents occurred in the United States (84.9%).[2]  IVF also leaves a trail of death and destruction.  It is estimated that up to 98% of IVF embryos not destined for immediate transfer succumb to death or abandonment in the freezer.[3]  To date, this has resulted in the death of over 100 million embryonic children for every 12 million IVF babies born since the birth of Louise Brown, the first IVF baby, in 1978.[4]  This high death toll is due in part to the fact that while IVF methods are more common, they are becoming less efficient. An analysis of U.S. national data found a downward trend in cycle efficiency, from 29% in 2012 to 22% in 2021, meaning that the chance of having a live birth is steadily declining in this country.[5] More recent data point to an even lower chance (less than 22%) of having a baby born through IVF.[6]

 

This case is symptomatic of larger problems within the IVF industry.  There is a regulatory gap that needlessly places patients and embryonic children at serious risk of harm. The IVF industry is a for-profit business that operates almost entirely in the private sector, with minimal federal regulation.  Professional guidelines rather than statutory oversight result in a wide variation in clinic practices, reporting, and validation.  This lack of standardization and accountability contributes to embryo errors, negligence, and outright misconduct, often leading to malpractice litigation similar to this Florida case.[7]

 

The ethical treatment of IVF embryos in this country is another grave concern.  Human embryos conceived by IVF are no less human than other children conceived from natural reproduction; they simply differ in where and how their conception occurred.  However, IVF embryos are often treated like products and commodities to be analyzed, exploited, cast aside, and discarded at will.  The use of pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT) is a major culprit in this exploitation, used to screen embryos and select the “best” baby based on statistical risk of disease and heritable traits including IQ and height.[8] These are unreliable and eugenic practices that seek to eliminate disease, disability, and other less desired traits by avoiding and eliminating young human lives considered to be lower quality.

 

For those struggling with infertility, this case and others like it may be especially disturbing.  It was for me.  My personal experience with infertility, pregnancy loss, and IVF was painful.[9]  But I know that all children, from the smallest embryo to the fully developed baby, are in the hands of Almighty God, who gives life and is the Creator of all things.  Therefore, this story of Baby Shea is also a story of grace and unconditional love for a much-desired child, regardless of genetic relation. It also reflects the selfless love of Baby Shea’s biological parents, who released custody of their daughter so she could be raised by the parents with whom she bonded during pregnancy and who welcomed her at birth.

 

In some ways, this case resembles embryo adoption (snowflake babies),[10]  in which a couple adopts a human embryo selflessly donated by another couple.  However, with Baby Shea, there was no parental consent to donate, and her fate was involuntarily determined after birth. Therefore, the emotional toll is great and places a tremendous burden on the child as she grows up to understand her history and separation from biological parents as an early embryo. May we never lose sight of humanity and the human lives impacted by the technologies that surround and continually seek to protect all embryonic children with inherent dignity and value from the moment of fertilization.

 

“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”[11]

 

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[1] “Support Tiff & Steve after heartbreaking IVF embryo mixup.” https://www.gofundme.com/f/TiffandSteveIVFmixup?cp_src=d

[2] Murphy, Anar, and Michael Collins. 2024. “Legal Case Study of Severe IVF Incidents Worldwide: Causes, Consequences, and High Emotional, Financial, and Reputational Costs to Patients and Providers.” North American Proceedings in Gynecology & Obstetrics 3 (3). https://doi.org/10.54053/001c.118936; and Steven J. Ory, Kristen Ivani, Kathleen Miller, Susan L. Crockin.  The in vitro fertilization clinic’s worst nightmare: wrong embryo transfer; new considerations, F&S Reports, Volume 7, Issue 3, 2026, Pages 173-176, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xfre.2026.03.001

[3] Prentice, DA.  The Facts of Life: A Review of the Science and Ethics of IVF.  Published 2024; and Committee Opinion 12 – Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos. Issues in Law & Medicine Volume: 40 Issue: 1. 2025.  https://doi.org/10.70257/MZYZ1423

[4] Ibid, Prentice 2024; and Dow K. Looking into the Test Tube: The Birth of IVF on British Television. Med Hist. 2019 Apr;63(2):189-208. doi:10.1017/mdh.2019.6

[5] Gleicher N, et al., The declining efficiency of IVF in the USA, Human Reproduction Open, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1093/hropen/hoag004; and Number of ART Cycles, Embryo Transfer Cycles, Banking Cycles, and Live-Birth Deliveries, 2013–2022. https://www.cdc.gov/art/php/national-summary/index.html?cove-tab=0

[6] American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).  Press Release.  March 24, 2026. https://www.asrm.org/news-and-events/asrm-news/press-releasesbulletins/for-the-first-time-more-than-100000-babies-born-through-ivf-in-the-u.s.-in-a-single-year/.  Fertility clinics reported 449,772 IVF treatment cycles resulting in 97,549 cycles with a live birth, which means 352,223 cycles failed (less than 22% IVF cycle efficiency).

[7] Ibid, Murphy et. al. 2024; Ibid, Ory et al. 2026; and Applebaum J, Humphries LA, Nepps ME, Berger DS, O'Neill K. Malpractice litigation surrounding in vitro fertilization in the United States: a legal literature review. Fertil Steril. 2023 Apr;119(4):572-580. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2022.12.038.

[8] https://mynucleus.com/; https://www.herasight.com/; https://www.lifeview.com/; https://www.orchidhealth.com/

[9] Sander Lee, T. “Reflections on In-Vitro Fertilization.” The Math3ma Institute, July 18, 2024. https://www.math3ma.institute/blog/reflections-on-in-vitro-fertilization

[10] National Embryo Donation Center.  https://www.embryodonation.org/

[11] The Lord of the Rings.

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