Political vice presidential nominee Tim Walz lately remarked that Minnesotans have a “golden concept” regarding sexual “rights,” saying,” Mind your own damned business.” But those of us who respect children’s natural rights and think that children should ideally start their lives as gifts from their mothers and fathers wo n’t care about our “own damn business” will be fine.
The in-vitro fertilization ( IVF ) process, which mixes sperm and eggs together in a laboratory to create numerous embryonic persons, is fraught with the loss of human life, as only 2-7 percent of lab-created children are born alive. IVF disapproves of millions of human beings when the number of fetal people who do not survive the exchange process, are disposed of, do never survive the freezing procedure, or are donated to study is compared to the number of people who do not survive the exchange process.
Many will argue that IVF is permissible if only one egg is extracted, fertilized, and implanted each time, as is the case with the Christian clinic Rejoice Fertility in Knoxville, Tennessee. The center conducts “mini-IVF” and “natural cycle” IVF with a” no discard” approach. Mini-IVF elicits fewer eggs for retrieval, resulting in fewer leftover embryos, and the natural cycle approach fertilizes the woman’s single ovulated egg each month.
Though a Christian approach to IVF is commendable, even if only one embryo is created and transferred, trial and error with that one, full person, is still occurring. Then, if this occurs, participants are held accountable for the death of that one human being, a blame that is never attributable to couples who take part in the co-creation process that God uses in the enigmatic sanctuary of the mother’s body. Natural family planning ( NFP ) and a variety of surgical procedures should be promoted in place of IVF, a procedure that potentially manipulates human lives while masking treatable health conditions.
Natural Family Planning
The Marquette Model, the Billings Ovulation Method, and the Creighton Model are the most widely used NFP techniques, and they all identify and treat underlying causes of infertility using a variety of diagnostic tools, including cervical mucus and fluctuating hormone levels.
Naprotechnology ( NPT ), a form of infertility treatment that uses the Creighton model, seeks to treat the underlying afflictions causing conception difficulties and frequent miscarriages, such as endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, thyroid disorders, and uterine polyps and fibroids. NPT also has an 80 % success rate, as opposed to the meager success rates of IVF. In a study conducted on 108 couples,” Of the 51 couples who conceived, 12 couples ( 24 % ) conceived with CrMS]Creighton Model FertilityCare System ] instruction alone, 35 ( 69 % ) conceived with CrMS and NPT medical treatment, and 4 ( 8 % ) conceived after additional surgical treatment”.
After several doctors and specialists told them they would never have children without IVF, one couple, Ashley and Jeff, opened up their story to NPT. They conceived their son in the first month of fully diving into the Creighton learning process with the help of NPT. After six months of not conceiving, another couple, Carolyn and Nic, were diagnosed with infertility and given a pamphlet for IVF and limited access to further diagnostic testing. Carolyn, a nurse, strongly recommended NPT, the couple tried it, and they went on to conceive two daughters.
Endometriosis Excision Surgery
Although endometriosis removal ablation techniques frequently burn tissue off the surface of the uterus and do n’t get to the base of the lesion, leading to scar tissue, fertility issues, and frequently causing the endometriosis to resurge. Excision surgery removes the scar tissue at the root and stops further adhesions and scar tissue, resolving natural reproductive cycles. In a study conducted on 239 patients who underwent excision surgery for endometriosis, “following surgery, 76.9 % of previously infertile patients attempted to conceive with 80 % success rate”.
Endometriosis and ovarian cysts were the symptoms of Kristen Mihaly. After charting her symptoms, cycle, and taking progesterone, she underwent a surgical NPT treatment to reduce adhesions and scar tissue in the uterus. Mihaly stated that she felt like IVF clinics looked at her body “in a very black and white way”, as they simply “wanted to work around ]her ] cysts and give]her ] IVF treatments”. After surgical procedures to remove her endometriosis, scar tissue, and cysts, she conceived her son five weeks later.
After choosing to have endometriosis surgery and keeping track of her symptoms, Meghan and Matt Litz discovered that they had more issues, including low progesterone. Meghan stated that she “did n’t know any of these things, amongst many other things, when]she ] was trying with the fertility doctors and]they ] did IVF”. Although she acknowledged that the process was slower, this was the only way she had encountered that would provide her with answers and address the real issues. It was n’t immediate gratification, and that’s always hard to swallow when you want something so badly”.
Read more success stories from excision surgery on conception here.
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome: Ovarian Drilling and Laparoscopic Ovarian Wedge Resection
Ovarian drilling, which obstructs the production of testosterone by drilling holes in the ovaries to reduce the amount of it, can be beneficial and effective in achieving pregnancy, but it also can lead to fallopian tube adhesions, which can prevent fertility.
On the other hand, Ovarian Wedge Resection ( OWR ) is performed by making an incision “made into the ovary using a carbon dioxide laser.” The tissue wedge is taken out, and the ovary is repaired by re-using the Prolene suture and inverting the edges. This procedure removes a portion of the enlarged ovary’s androgen-producing tissue, allowing the ovary to resume regular steroid production and follicle development. While OWR is an older method, it reduces the likelihood of adhesions. A study from 2003 on OWR surgeries found that out of 134 patients,” One hundred and four patients conceived within the first 6 months ( 78 % ) … following the operation”.
Here’s how two OWR patients described it:
I was on a hormonal treatment but still was n’t cycling regularly, so]the doctor] suggested I should have an Ovarian wedge resection procedure…Within two months of trying to conceive, we found out we were expecting and now have an extremely outgoing, healthy, happy four-month old son! Without the NaPro training at our seminar on natural family planning, I would still be infertile and unsure of any options.
The]Creighton ] model is a great way to monitor your own body, instead of using other medications. The doctors discovered that polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD ) was the cause of my infertility. ]The doctor] really took over my care and administered in-depth testing that I was n’t getting with my previous doctor. My husband and I discovered we are expecting twins just over a month after the NaPro wedge resection procedure. And it’s all without taking ovulation-stimulating medication!
These treatments are important alternatives for husbands and wives to keep in mind rather than having to go straight to IVF, though they are not for everyone.
Jesus was created in His image, and he was righteous when he received it. When he became incarnate, he revealed how we, as people created in His image, are deserving of this same respect. Every step leading up to their existence is overseen not only under the gaze of the loving God, but also under the supervision of scientists who are primarily concerned with calculating potential outcomes. This respect is not given to those who first enter laboratories. Their calculations make it clear that IVF purposefully and fully understands that not all people will survive, if any, and that this human experimentation is “our damn business,” Mr. Walz.
Katie Breckenridge is the organization’s operations manager and contributing writer for Them Before Us. She holds a master’s degree in mental health and wellness with an emphasis in family dynamics, a graduate certificate in trauma-informed practice, and is working towards a second masters in bioethics. Through her work as a research associate for the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, she has also had articles published in The Times and The Scotsman ( U.K. ).
