the fertilization of multiple eggs in I.V.F. treatments a felony....

[radfringe]

coming attractions?

The Passion of the Embryos
by Frank Rich
The New York Times | July 23, 2006
http://64.226.238.78/PA/fr/fr212.shtml

---snip---

If you believe, as Mr. Bush says he does, that either discarding or conducting research with I.V.F. embryos is murder, then fertility clinic doctors, like stem-cell researchers, belong on death row. But the president, so proud of drawing a firm "moral" line, will no sooner crack down on I.V.F. than he did on Kim Jong Il: The second-term Bush has been downsized to a paper tiger. His party's base won't be so shy. Sam Brownback, the Kansas Republican who led the Senate anti-stem-cell offensive and sees himself as the religious right's presidential candidate, has praised the idea of limiting the number of eggs fertilized in vitro to "one or two at a time." A Kentucky state legislator offered a preview of coming attractions, writing a bill making the fertilization of multiple eggs in I.V.F. treatments a felony.

[Warren DeMontague]

1. You know, I actually think in a way this is a good thing. At least they're

displaying intellectual honesty.

Across the board, I think people should know what the real agendas of extremists of all varieties are- unfortunately, for PR purposes, the extremists usually tend to soft-pedal them.

[Hekate]

2. Fertility treatment is arduous and hideously expensive

There are many good reasons, both economic and medical, for fertilizing a lot of eggs at once and then freezing them. The prospective parents may not get too many shots at this part of the procedure.

I knew a woman who -- after many rounds of hormones -- finally managed to squeeze out 3 eggs. They were fertilized with her husband's sperm and -- after more hormones to make her uterus as ready as it would ever be -- they were all implanted in hopes that at least one would make it. None did.

The Catholic Church is at least consistent about this. The late Pope John-Paul II lumped fertility treatments in with artificial birth control as being contrary to what he thought of as the natural order. In that scheme of things God wants some couples to have a baby every year and other couples to be infertile. The fact that I disagreed with him on all of the above doesn't change the fact that at least the Church is consistent in its teachings.

The religious wingnuts in the US are all over the map on the issue. It's a "miracle from God" when a woman who is implanted with 4 or 5 or 6 zygotes becomes pregnant with all of them. It's a "miracle from God" when they are born drastically prematurely and kept alive with rooms full of medical machinery and drugs for months in the hospital.

And it's "against God's will" when someone luckier than my friend produces 20 or so eggs to be harvested and is able to freeze a dozen zygotes, yet decides to have "only" 2 or 3 actual babies and discard the rest of the eggs. The last I heard there are somewhere around 400,000 frozen zygotes in this country, most of which will never, ever be defrosted in an attempt to create an actual baby.

And now, in an attempt to be as consistent as the Pope, the pro-birthers are simply managing to be cruel. Again. Why do I think this is NOT God's will?

Hekate
:argh:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. The severely deformed babies born in Iraq that may well be

a result of depleted uranium being sprinkled there, (jury is still out I think) are a gift from God... nevermind the fine christian nation that sprinkled the DU there.

[moc]

4. The reason they fertilize as many as they can is there is no guarantee

that any of them will even make it to transfer. It's one huge ole crap shoot. I know of many situations where >10 eggs were retrieved and fertilized but only 1-2 were decent enough for transfer.

[Hekate]

5. Exactly. And I do wonder what kind of fanatic would pay $$$ to try "save"

There's a high level of ignorance and fanaticism in trying to "save the snowflake babies" by trying to convince women who otherwise wouldn't have to go through this procedure....

Hekate

[SoCalDem]

6. One egg at a time, and maybe the insurnace companies should

take a second look too.. do they know they are paying for "murrrrrrrrder"?

Perhaps the fundamentalist republicans who are soaking their insurance companies to pay for in vitro, might be paying for it on their own..

Careful what you ask for , folks