Embryos

So, in the light of my newfound appreciation for sharing my opinions, here goes. :D

I thought my topic of the week would be that of embryo storage, usage and disposal. I believe that donating both eggs and embryos is a beautiful gift that I can give to another couple like Brian and I who could not otherwise have children. I don't see it as hugely problematic, although some would disagree. I know that this can be considered wrong by some people as the embryos I might put up for adoption are essentially my children. This is where the controversy comes in. What if my kids end up dating their own biological sibling in twenty years (not real likely, I know)? What if laws get passed that might disregard my anonymity and these children are able to seek me out? What if my children find out that I chose to do this and they are hurt or angry? What if I see a child in the mall some day and it is the spitting image of me or Brian or my daughters?

I think I might have pointed out in a comments section that this issue of embryo usage is one of the major issues the catholic church takes with IVF. (A couple people asked my opinion on some catholic churches taking issue with infertility treatment). According to the church to dispose of embryos either for scientific study or just disposing of them all together is morally the same as abortion. This is a point I have to agree with the church on. Many churches and priests do not see any problem with the actual act of IVF itself. It is what happens after that causes the problems.

And as for the issue of disposal of embryos... my personal opinion is that using embryos for scientific study is very close to allowing your own children to be guinea pigs for who knows what. At my clinic there is no rule or law saying that if you donate to science they have to tell you what studies are being performed. I find this scary. I know this brings into question the whole "When does life begin" debate. For me, it's easy. Life begins at the moment of conception. So, that being said I see scientific study of embryos to be a moral quagmire.

That leaves us with the last option, disposal. I think you can all probably venture to guess where I stand here. Throwing away a human life is immoral. When these embryos can be adopted by parents who have worked, prayed, gone through test after test and procedure after procedure why the hell would you throw them away.

I know there are a lot more issues here I am overlooking, feel free to bring them to the table. I just see this one as an easy decision (for me personally, anyway). I think to NOT put your embryos up for adoption is selfish. Just because you might have a fear of this potential life coming to find you later on. Or because it might be weird knowing your child is out there somewhere. To me helping a deserving couple become parents should outweigh those issues.

I am not sure that people who never do IVF get the gravity of the decision to do an IVF cycle. It's even more complicated than finding the money to pay for it, putting yourself through the hell of hormones, injections, ultrasounds, surgery, and the painstaking stress this all takes mentally and physically. It is also a series of decisions that have to be made. How many embryos to transfer? What happens if you end up pregnant with higher order multiples? What to do with unused embryos? What if you have embryos that are fragmented or considered sub-par? There is so much that goes into a cycle on top of what meets the eye.