What's Wrong With You, Alabama?
Since most of you know that my son was conceived via IVF, I’m sure you’re wondering when I’m going to write about my views on the Alabama/IVF situation (I know the legislature DID vote to protect doctors and parents from being charged, but to be honest, I still don’t have much hope for them. And with the wrong people, it could easily be repealed). Well, they’re right that the GOP needs to look into this deeper (and many have). IVF has helped A LOT of families. And it goes beyond growing them.
What do I mean by that? As I’ve noted in various responses to notes posted different people’s accounts, a family’s remaining embryos can be used numerous ways. One is to donate to science, which will help with finding new treatments and cures for conditions that currently have limited therapies for (if at all). Halting any form of IVF is not just family un-friendly, but also anti-science and anti-health. Of course, this isn’t surprising coming from those who are from the religious right. Sometime, I’m not even sure if they truly know how babies are created. As in, do they even realize that chemical pregnancies - those very early miscarriages - happen? That people just don’t notice and just thought their period was late? That not all fertilized embryos even stick? Science just isn’t their “thing.” And this is coming from a girl whose only science credit at the university level was an Environmental Science course. I really only took it so that I could show my parents I COULD indeed sit through a “science” course at the university level. Of course they wouldn’t. These aren’t the type of people who’d do any research.
I started writing this post on my son’s transfer-versary date (but it’s going live a few days later). It happened six years ago and his existence wouldn’t have happened without science (picture above is of what eventually became him as a thawed embryo). And honestly, I still can’t believe that it did. He is truly a miracle. Our surrogate had three previous transfers, leading to one chemical and two BFNs (Big Fat Negatives, meaning that the embryo didn’t “stick”). And even though it was no longer as common, it was suggested that he would be a double transfer. Unfortunately, the embryo did not survive the thawing process - this can happen (and I wonder how the Alabama government would interpret THAT). This is actually one of the reasons why Our Three New Years! features twins. I had always imagined the lost embryo as a girl.
I know this is later than most posts on the subject and it’s probably past it’s best before/sell by date, but it has to be said. Very few, if any of the articles I read discussed much about science or donating to intended parents. I suppose it’s because donor embryos are less in demand versus eggs or sperm, but there ARE people who look. It could be a situation like ours - eggs or sperm from a similar ethnic background (eggs in my case) are not easy to get due to cultural reasons, for example.
Anyway, that’s pretty much my view. Again, I don’t think too many people have talked about science (but I’ve seen plenty from parents who shared their own journeys). I’d love to hear from people who donated their embryos to intended parents. What made you decide to do that versus science or have them discarded? Was it anonymous or do you have contact with the intended family/families?