Emily. Beautifully and compassionately stated. Infertility is a HUGE Cross. In a few years the first IVF babies will be 50 years old.
IVF was and is a Pandora Box that will never be emptied.
Personally, I could have tumbled down the IVF Rabbit Hole 39 yrs ago. The "Success Rates" of the nearest (and new) IVF clinics were 10-15%. I was "mostly" Pro-Life, a poorly formed and very lukewarm Catholic. But something clicked. And it was scary in a good way.
How could I trust the physician and nurse and lab tech to take the utmost care of my babies in a "Petri Dish"? How could I let anyone make a decision about a good/healthy embryo vs a "substandard" one? All of "my" embryos were little human beings and I couldn't take the risk that they could/would be harmed. God clearly had his hands all over my heart and my head in keeping me from following that path.
This is so well done, Emily. Thank you. If I may, I would like to put in a plug for our IVF and infertility- related content at Natural Womanhood. We talk about the realities of IVF in a gentle, evidence-based way, as well as restorative reproductive medical alternatives, like NaPro and FEMM: https://naturalwomanhood.org/?s=Ivf
Do you have or know of any resources for non-Catholics? I am looking for a compassionate look at IVF that considers the moral and ethical issues for a non-Catholic acquaintance who is set on trying it.
This is so well written. We are in the midst of secondary infertility for the second time and I can relate to a lot of the feelings you described. Thank you for sharing this.
❤️ thank you for this article. I very much resonated with your feelings of sometimes wishing you didn’t know & believe the teachings of the church in these matters. Your story gives me hope!
Emily. Beautifully and compassionately stated. Infertility is a HUGE Cross. In a few years the first IVF babies will be 50 years old.
IVF was and is a Pandora Box that will never be emptied.
Personally, I could have tumbled down the IVF Rabbit Hole 39 yrs ago. The "Success Rates" of the nearest (and new) IVF clinics were 10-15%. I was "mostly" Pro-Life, a poorly formed and very lukewarm Catholic. But something clicked. And it was scary in a good way.
How could I trust the physician and nurse and lab tech to take the utmost care of my babies in a "Petri Dish"? How could I let anyone make a decision about a good/healthy embryo vs a "substandard" one? All of "my" embryos were little human beings and I couldn't take the risk that they could/would be harmed. God clearly had his hands all over my heart and my head in keeping me from following that path.
This is so well done, Emily. Thank you. If I may, I would like to put in a plug for our IVF and infertility- related content at Natural Womanhood. We talk about the realities of IVF in a gentle, evidence-based way, as well as restorative reproductive medical alternatives, like NaPro and FEMM: https://naturalwomanhood.org/?s=Ivf
Do you have or know of any resources for non-Catholics? I am looking for a compassionate look at IVF that considers the moral and ethical issues for a non-Catholic acquaintance who is set on trying it.
This is so well written. We are in the midst of secondary infertility for the second time and I can relate to a lot of the feelings you described. Thank you for sharing this.
❤️ thank you for this article. I very much resonated with your feelings of sometimes wishing you didn’t know & believe the teachings of the church in these matters. Your story gives me hope!