I recently read an article about women waiting until later in life to have children and then having to have IVF. In the comments section there were some people who were pro and some people who were anti - IVF. I am a curious person by nature and was wondering if there is anyone out there who is anti-IVF and if so, why? Religious reasons, scientific reasons? Just for the record, I am pro-IVF. I find science amazing! Feel free to send me a private message if you are concerned about the pro-IVFer's jumping down your throat. I promise I won't judge your beliefs (either way), I am just curious.
I have IVF to thank for my wonderful twins! However, along the way, I found people opposed to it because with so many children out there, they thought that I should try to adopt...to each their own...I have no regrets!!
Without IVF I wouldn't have my two wonderful kids!! My son will be seven this month and my daughter is 2 1/2. I was only 24 when my husband and I decided to do IVF. My doctor could never find anything wrong in all the tests that were done. It was worth every penny!!
Hi, I have had 4 IVF's and have 2 super kids from it that I adore. I am pro IVF obviously. I have had conversations with people who do not support it though, and they seem to always cite religious reasons and believing that life begins at conception. During IVF you can (unless you choose not to due to these religious reasons) create large numbers of embryos and obviously if a person creates 38 embryos they will not carry all of them to term. You may donate the remainder to other couples, but you may feel uncomfortable that your genetic child is going to be raised by someone you don't know. The reason that they create a lot of embryos is that they are really only choosing to implant the ones that are high quality and may make it. So if you do, for religious reasons, only attempt to make a couple of embryos your chances of success are much, much slimmer. I think people who are not facing infertility are much more likely to be against it.
But I have not met anyone who is infertile who says that they think IVF is wrong. Unless you are infertile, you just don't know what it is like. Now, I am sure that there are people who are infertile who think IVF is wrong but I have only met fertile people ( mostly men) who say that it is wrong.
I am a strong supporter of it. But I respect people who chose that they don't want to have it done for religious reasons. But I don't have the same beliefs as they do. My belief is that every child born deserves parents that want and cherish them. And that every couple that desperately wants a child to love and parent have one. That goes for bio families and adoption. Wouldn't that solve a lot of problems?
I am 100% pro IVF. But I can recall that before my Catholic wedding, we had to go to pre-cana classes. And I remember reading in the booklet that IVF was something that went against the rules in the Catholic faith. I remember thinking - how dumb and dismissed it. I believe that it has to do with the way procreation is "supposed to happen" as well as that in a laboratory setting, unused embryos can be "tossed out" when it is in fact considered a life. It's often discussed right along with stem cell research - another church no-no!
I am with you, and know that if I had the money and couldn't get pregnant, I would definitely do IVF. I just had a conversation with my sister about a friend of hers who cannot get pregnant and refuses to do IVF because she believes that if God wanted her to carry a baby, He would have given her a more natural way to do so. She wants conceiving the baby to be romantic and not sterile (her words, not mine). I guess to some extent I can understand that, but I feel like if I were that desperate I would do anything to be able to be pregnant. (As a side note, they decided to adopt since it wasn't working for them.) Hope this helps!
I find science amazing, too, but I am generally anti-IVF. I do believe that life begins at conception and I struggle with creating embryos that are not implanted, or that are implanted and have a poor chance of survival. If you want to get beyond embryo stage there are those that are implanted in a larger number and do survive and then are either subject to "thinning" or face potential problems from being crowded in the womb.
If you want to get more political about it, there's also the issue of resources. I am someone who believes that any person should be able to spend their money on whatever they want - but that doesn't mean that I think all of those choices are wise or are good for the larger community in the long run. And I recognize that when I buy a can of Coke, I'm making one of those poor decisions (so I'm not pretending I or anyone else can be immune from it.)
If it's just about religion - it varies. A friend who is a religious scholar and very pro-life nonetheless had children via IVF - but creating a small amount of embryos and finding adoptive parents so that all of the embryos were implanted. Another couple who are also very religious are infertile and are adopting other people's embryos.
I am infertile (to a degree - I was eventually able to have two pregnancies.) As we began infertility treatments we determined ahead of time where we would stop, and IVF was the line for me.
