As you are probably aware, the question of In Vitro Fertilization has come up a lot in the news media over the last couple of months. This is particularly because President Trump signed a document saying he was in support of In Vitro Fertilization. That, of course, does attract a lot of attention.

I would like to address the question of In Vitro Fertilization, as it relates specifically to the Saint Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction and to Catholics. What people are not aware of is that In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is a highly abortive technology. The way it is performed by uniting the egg and the sperm outside of the body, creating the human zygote, then inserting the new zygote or blastocyst into the uterine cavity produces about a 25 to 30 percent per cycle success rate.

However, it is extraordinarily expensive and problematic from an ethical and moral point of view. President Trump is not fully aware of all of those moral contingencies. Most people are not! It is has become somewhat “the treatment” for women with infertility problems, yet it is not anywhere near the “treatment” it has been promoted to be.

We started our work in the treatment of infertility about 45 years ago, and there was a significant amount that we had to learn. You would be surprised at how little research was done on the overall causes of infertility! However, we have found that women, who have infertility problems, have mucus cycles which can be charted using the CREIGHTON MODEL System that are either absent or are very limited mucus cycles. The limited mucus cycles are almost as bad as the dry cycles. Each are definitely associated with abnormal hormonal events during the course of the cycle and, if you do ultrasound studies of ovulation, they will have a high incidence of abnormal follicular growth and development and, literally, abnormal ovulation patterns. These are associated with infertility and miscarriage, but are generally not performed by IVF doctors.

We then began doing diagnostic laparoscopies, thinking everyone who is an obstetrician-gynecologist knew how to do a diagnostic laparoscopy. Yet, when we did repeat laparoscopies, a total of only 6.0% of the patients were actually normal. In other words, over 90% were abnormal, and they had abnormalities, such as endometriosis, pelvic adhesions, polycystic ovaries, and other conditions too numerous to mention. Having said all of that, however, these diseases are what has formed the foundation upon which they approach the treatment of patients with infertility. We have needed to learn how to treat hormonal dysfunctions, the mucus production issues, and also the underlying organic disease, such as endometriosis, polycystic ovaries, pelvic adhesions, etc.

In the process of this, we also had to develop certain techniques which could be performed without causing adhesions (scar tissue). This latter paper was published in the Journal of Gynecologic Surgery about 15 years ago, and we have been using that ever since. It is a highly effective and unique approach, but not of interest to the IVF industry. We have a new study coming out with regard to the treatment of infertility which should be published within the next 6 to 9 months. It shows that if the people are local, that is — come from the Omaha Metropolitan area – the pregnancy rate runs about 70% at two years. However, we see a lot of people who come from long distance and have seen multiple doctors, including IVF doctors, and others interested in infertility. In that group, the success rate falls to about 45% at two years, so it is greater than a 20% increase if they go to a NaProTECHNOLOGY® trained doctor first!

If you look at where we are at the present time, the biggest problem is that we do not exactly know how to treat the underlying ovulatory dysfunction that occurs in this group of patients. Again, believe it or not, there have been very few in the way of new medications have been made available in patients who have a need for medications for stimulating their ovulation and correct these problems. These are medical concerns for the most part, not surgical concerns, but the surgical part still needs to be done. For that particular portion, I believe we have already solved it. However, the one thing holding us back is the medical treatment of the ovulatory dysfunction.

Now as I say this, I want to emphasize that, if you come to a NaProTECHNOLOGY® trained physician, particularly here at the Saint Paul VI Institute, we get a pregnancy rate of almost 70% at two years with all of the evaluation, treatment, and everything, which is really, really good. However, from our point of view, it is not quite good enough. We want to be able to treat the underlying hormonal dysfunction and ovulatory dysfunction, which will require medication. We do have some ideas on how to go about doing this, but we have not been able to implement them quite yet because we have a few more things that we have to explore.

This letter gives me an opportunity to emphasize to you that the Saint Paul VI Institute is the only Research Institute in the entire world that is doing research in the various stages of natural human fertility. You would be surprised at how little research has gone into that in spite of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical of Humanae Vitae. He calls specifically on physicians and health care professionals to get involved in this, but few of them have. We have trained a number of doctors, so there are people who are aware of what we are doing, but it is difficult to have them fit into their practice because it is somewhat more time-consuming and so forth.

However, we can do it here at the Institute, and we have seen people from six continents, along with almost all of the fifty states in America. We are very encouraged by this new data, which we will be submitting for publication in the next six weeks. We get a pregnancy rate of almost 70% at two years . . . it is greater than a 20% increase if they go to a NaProTECHNOLOGY®trained doctor first!

I want you to know that this is the type of thing that your donations can go towards in support of the Institute. In any regard, I want to assure you the Education and Research Programs here at the Saint Paul VI Institute are incredibly unique. They are particularly important and producing a whole new staff of allied health professionals, along with medical doctors, including our Fellowship Program, where they are being trained in the adhesion-free surgery.This is an extremely exciting venture, and, in the long term, it will pay off!

So, I ask you to generously give to the Saint Paul VI Institute. Your donation is tax deductible. Also, I am attaching information on “My Catholic Will,” with which we have already had some success. Maybe that would help also.

In any regard, thank you so much! I am so grateful for your support. I cannot tell you how much, not only to me, but all of the people who work here at the Institute and the patients we see.

I pray that God will continue to be with you and your family in a very special way and that your Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons will be richly blessed!

Thanksgiving and Christmas Appeal 2025