Thursday, February 08, 2007

In my opinion.......

One thing I decided very early on when I first started my blog is that I would refrain from 2 topics. Religion and Politics.

Guess what- can't keep my mouth shut anymore.

Now I consider myself an pretty open minded individual and very tolerant of other's beliefs. BUT, when you push a very sensitive button with me (and it takes alot to get me there) watch out- because then I morph into mega *itch.

And I will probably tick some people off.

First- I will start off by stating that no- I am not a heathen, and yes, I believe in God (I also believe in spirits, reincarnation etc- but not relevant at this time). I just do not believe in organized religion.

There are various reasons why I am no longer a Catholic, IVF and stem cell research being two of them.

So anyway- I am involved in a conference on infertility, with 2 local REs speaking about -infertility. You cannot talk about infertility without talking about in vitro fertilization. This conference is being held at a CATHOLIC HOSPITAL. They do not want the words" in vitro fertilization" used in flyers, yada yada.

Hmmm....this is going to get interesting. Should we make up code terms? Here's a suggestion:
"intra who-haa egg relocation"
Point to ponder.....If the brew ha ha is because they (Catholic church, or anyone else who shares this thought) believe that life begins at conception, and thus when the egg is fertilized it is a life....

Why can't children be born directly out of petrie dishes?

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I have had 2 miscarriages, 1 failed IUI, and 2 failed IVFs. And those who know my 3rd IVF story know that I was hooked up on an operating table about to have a d&c when 1 heartbeat was found. Until that point- I had a non-viable pregnancy. NON VIABLE is defined as "not capable of living or developing." It was considered non-viable because there was no heartbeat.

I had 5 extra embryos left over from that cycle. They stopped growing on day 6- they were non-viable embryos. I 100% guarantee you that if we had frozen embryos leftover, and Drew and I decided that we would not use them- I would, in 1 nanosecond, donate them for stem cell / scientific research. From a medical standpoint, no cardiac activity signals the cessation, or lack, of life. Autopsies are performed everyday in this country, yet not alot of people with their panties in a bunch over poking and prodding a deceased body. But mention IVF, stem cell research or anything similar and battle lines are drawn.

The Catholic church (and others) want to argue that each embryos is a life, therefore we are messing with a living thing during stem cell research.. They can say that it is stopping the "life" from continuing by manipulating it's genetic, chromosomal makeup. To argue this point, one would have to argue it on the assumption that every embryo is destined to become a life. If this was the case- IVF success rates would be 100%. Guess what- they aren't.

I would like to see a someone try and win that debate with a woman who just found out that her 5th attempt at IVF was a failure.

One last note- its very interesting that "faith based hospitals opposed to IVF" have no problem allowing babies created through these methods to be born there.....

ok- I'm done.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Not to mention the billions of embryos created under normal conditions in fertile women that fail to implant all on their own. Or the millions of miscarriages that happen naturally.

We undergo these procedures to CREATE life, not destroy it. Unlike the average woman, we actually hope that everything we do every day during that period results in a pregnancy. There's no such thing as an unwanted IVF baby.

So you'd think they'd applaud us for going to such lengths to create life, but instead, they make us feel second-class.

Unless, as you say, it's time for us to pony up the cash for the birth. Then they're allllll for it...