After reading the executive summary the Center for Arizona Policy issued regarding the concerns about the “many serious ethical issues that surround the practice and the significant public policy issues that need to be addressed”, leading them to help craft SB 1376, I feel the need to address their concern #1:
Sanctity of Human Life – In the name of “creating life,” infertility clinics are responsible for the destruction of countless unused, unwanted, or “unfit” embryos. Infertility doctors readily admit that they perform experiments and training on embryos that they have deemed unlikely to survive.
Like any issue, there are always two sides.
Just a few weeks ago, I came across this milestone regarding IVF births on the Huffington Post:
Five Million IVF Babies Born Since 1978
Since the first test tube baby in the late 1970s, it is estimated that 5 million babies have been born as a direct result of IVF.
5 MILLION.
How many lives have been touched as a result of those five million babies over the last forty or so years?
Let’s do the math:
5 million babies born to IVF since 1978
X a mom and dad of each of these kids =
10 million ecstatic parents
X a grandma and grandpa per mom and dad =
40 million ecstatic grandparents (including 2012 Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney!!)
X uncles/aunts/God parents/friends
= 100 million ecstatic family and friends
ALL BECAUSE OF IVF.
The CAP’s focus on what happens with the free floating (not implanted mind you) embryos that a medical professional with years of training deems not to be likely to survive neglects to acknowledge the amount of life THAT IS CREATED.
I am sick and tired of the negative language groups like the CAP use when referring to a process that is designed to create life. Why do they choose to cast a sinister shadow over clinics as if they are “playing God” by choosing which fertilized eggs are likely to survive?
Perhaps the problem lies in the misuse of the term embryo.
Let’s look it up in Merriam’s Webster Dictionary:
an animal in the early stages of growth and differentiation that are characterized by cleavage, the laying down of fundamental tissues, and the formation of primitive organs and organ systems; especially : the developing human individual from the time of implantation to the end of the eighth week after conception.
Notice, the definition requires the qualifying timeline of AFTER IMPLANTATION.
I read articles and news reports that constantly misuse the term “implanted”.
EMBRYOS ARE NOT IMPLANTED. THEY ARE TRANSFERRED.
So that really means, that there is NO EMBRYO unless there is implantation.
- A fertilized egg–NOTICE that it is not attached to anything I.E. not “implanted”
There is a great deal of potential. But until that fertilized egg is transferred into a woman’s uterus, and God willing latches on to a good spot, takes root, and implants, there is no embryo.
- Implantation–NOW it becomes an embryo–without connection to mom, it is a ball of human potential
As infertility patients, we know that even that positive pregnancy test doesn’t mean you are out of the woods.
There is the ultrasound to see the sac.
The ultrasound to hear the heartbeat.
The ultrasound to see the two chamber heartbeat.
The ultrasound to see the 4 chamber heart.
The ultrasound to see the gummy bear formation.
We value every single step of the formation of that baby as infertility patients.
How many natural conception parents have a photo album filled will all those stages of development?
So I’d like to modify the “concerns” sentence up above and reframe it to reflect the value of IVF based on the 5 million babies born as a result of the last forty years of ART:
Sanctity of Human Life – In the name of “creating life,” infertility clinics are responsible for providing parents with a view of their babies at the earliest stages of life, a God given bonus for their persistence. Infertility doctors in most cases are too modest to readily admit that they have been responsible for healing the infertile souls of over 5 million couples since IVF began by helping them make their dream of a biological child come true.
I wonder how much life will be created by SB 1376.
I’ll let the folks at the CAP answer that one.
[…] politicians do not value the life of the 5 MILLION people who are on this earth as a result of IVF, people who would only exist in the imagination of […]
My main objection to your post is the bad science you use. You say that it is an embryo when it is implanted. Not true. Why do we talk about frozen embryos? Which of course we know are not implanted. And embryologist never say “fertilized egg”. It is an egg and then once it is fertilized it is no longer an egg. Also, since you are talking about the math, the CDC just released 2010 IVF rates. Of nearly 150,000 IVF cycles performed over 100,000 FAILED. That’s a lot of disappointed moms, dads, grand parents etc.
What science are you talking about, Diane? Fertilized eggs are transferred. If the fertilized egg implants, it becomes an embryo based on the definition of “embryo” in my post.
Read the definition in my post again. It came from Merriam Webster dictionary. If you have an issue with their scientific explanation, take it up with them.
I don’t understand your point about failed IVFs. So the 50,000 that succeeded are not worth it?
How many other medical procedures don’t work for patients? Does that mean they aren’t worth pursuing?
There’s nothing wrong with my science–but apparently you have an issue with the semantics of the science. Either way, this bill is just bad legislation.
You wrote:
Implantation–NOW it becomes an embryo–without connection to mom, it is a ball of human potential
It does not become an embryo at implantation. Before implantation, it is an embryo. We transfer embryos, not a ball of human potential.
An egg, once fertilized is a zygote, then it becomes an embryo. This is basic human development. Fertilized eggs are not transferred as you state.
My point on quoting the CDC report is to have a fully factual discussion, both on the science and the realities of success. I think it is important to speak from facts on all sides.
I appreciate your blog/ article. I am one of those that had to struggle many years to conceive and had to endure 5 IVF cycles before finally being blessed to have my daughter. I just thought I might be able to contribute to the dispute over the term “embryo”… technically after conception (so in IVF couples it is after the sperm permeates the egg and fertilizes it) it is called a “zygote” then five days later after dividing of cells it is then called a “blastocyst.” What they call embryo transfer during the IVF, is actually a blastocyst that are transferring. So, the debate is not even valid. Plus, why attack people that are trying to conceive and have families- why not focus on people able to kill their babies (ie. abortion)