KNOXVILLE, TENN. — Dr. John Gordon purchased a fertility practice in Knoxville, Tennessee, and established Rejoice Fertility, a clinic that does not discard viable embryos, genetically test embryos, or donate embryos to science, and limits the number of embryos it creates. Gordon launched the practice after leaving his role as co-director of a fertility clinic in suburban Washington, D.C., where he had become troubled over the creation of surplus embryos that often remained in storage or were discarded.

Gordon was 55 years old when he changed his practice in 2018, after his wife, Allison Gordon, encouraged him to alter how he approached reproductive medicine. Both believed in the sanctity of embryos as part of their Christian faith.

"I don't like changing toothpaste brands," Gordon said. "I need to practice in a way that I can live with the decisions I'm making."

The clinic draws patients from around the country. Evangelical brochures and a wooden cross are displayed in the waiting room, and a Bible verse reading "Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go" is displayed outside the recovery area. The clinic does not require employees or patients to share Gordon's religious beliefs.

Gordon tailors treatments to patients' ideal family size and specializes in IVF cycles using lower amounts of fertility medication, which is more affordable and generally results in fewer eggs. A typical IVF cycle at the clinic costs between $8,000 and $10,000, and patients have the option to fertilize fewer eggs than is typical at other IVF clinics.

Domenic and Olivia D'Agostino traveled nearly two hours by car from their Tennessee home to seek treatment at the clinic. "That was the biggest one for me because in my eyes there's not much difference between discarding an embryo and abortion," Domenic D'Agostino said. "My favorite thing that he does is he prays with us before transfers. He focused in on the sovereignty of God in it and submitting to God's will in this process," he added.

Gordon asks patients with unused embryos to place them for adoption, and the clinic launched a program called Rejoice Embryo Rescue, which Gordon describes as an "orphanage." The program stores donated embryos and works with agencies, most of which are Christian, that coordinate embryo adoptions. In conservative Christian circles, embryo donations are known as embryo adoptions, reflecting a view of embryos as children rather than property.

Sarah Coe Atkinson, the senior embryologist at Rejoice Fertility, oversees a lab that accepts almost any embryo regardless of its condition. "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," Atkinson said. "Sometimes the ugliest embryos make the prettiest babies."

A couple treated through the program received a donated embryo that had been frozen for nearly 31 years, and the child born in 2025 is believed to be the record holder for the longest-frozen embryo to result in a birth. Approximately 1.5 million frozen embryos are stored in the United States, according to medical experts.