KNOXVILLE, TENN. — Reproductive endocrinologist Dr. John Gordon purchased a fertility practice in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2018 and founded Rejoice Fertility, a clinic aligned with his Christian ethical principles that does not discard viable embryos, genetically test them, or donate them to science. The clinic also limits how many embryos it creates and draws patients from around the country.

Gordon, who had served as co-director of a fertility clinic in suburban Washington, D.C., became troubled by helping create surplus embryos that often languished in storage or were discarded as scientific advancements over three decades created ethical dilemmas in IVF treatment. He was 55 years old when he pivoted his practice.

"It's too morally problematic," Gordon said. "I don't know where you draw the line."

He said the shift was difficult personally. "I don't like changing toothpaste brands," he said. "I need to practice in a way that I can live with the decisions I'm making."

Gordon was raised Jewish outside Boston as the son and grandson of physicians. He attended prep school, Princeton University, Duke University School of Medicine, and completed his residency at Stanford. He met his wife, Allison Gordon, at Duke, where she earned a doctorate in engineering. She grew up Christian in a small North Carolina town, and a minister and a rabbi presided at their wedding. The couple maintained an interfaith marriage for several years.

Their oldest son was hospitalized with a life-threatening ailment when he was in third grade. After their son recovered, the couple joined a mainline Presbyterian church, and he was baptized in 2000. They are now members of the Presbyterian Church in America, and elders of Christ Covenant Church support Rejoice Fertility's mission.

In 2018, Allison Gordon pushed her husband to change how he practiced, saying their comfortable life seemed bought by what she called ill-gotten gains. Rejoice Fertility does not require employees or patients to share his religious beliefs. Evangelical brochures and a wooden cross are displayed in the waiting room, and a Bible verse — "Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go" — is displayed outside the recovery area.

Among the clinic's patients, Domenic and Olivia D'Agostino traveled nearly two hours by car from their Tennessee home after learning a non-discard facility existed. "My favorite thing that he does is he prays with us before transfers," Domenic D'Agostino said. "He focused in on the sovereignty of God in it and submitting to God's will in this process."

D'Agostino also described his reason for seeking out the clinic. "That was the biggest one for me because in my eyes there's not much difference between discarding an embryo and abortion," he said. "We just weren't really willing to do that."

Rejoice Fertility provided care to a couple who received a donated embryo that had been frozen for nearly 31 years. The child was delivered in 2025, believed to be a record for the longest-frozen embryo to result in a birth.