I’m going to side with Horton on this one and that is not a difficult conclusion for me to come by. I believe with all that I am that life begins at conception. I think deep down most people would agree with me but most begin to waver when other life circumstances get in the way.
When they find themselves laden with an unwanted pregnancy. When they are navigating the road of infertility treatments. When certain legislation may limit their choices.
Yesterday, while mulling over my Twitter feed, I came across this policy posted by Resolve, the National Infertility Association. It’s asking people to vote no to “personhood legislation” because of how muddied the waters will become for those seeking pregnancy through treatment for infertility.
It made me think. Mainly because it may affect our ability to conceive again.
For three years we walked the road of infertility and I still consider myself infertile even with Elizabeth at my side. Unless pregnancy restarted my reproductive system, which it could have, I still am. And we may need to walk down that same road if we desire siblings for Elizabeth.
There is nothing in me that wants to go down that road again. The hurt, the pain, the wanting and waiting, the constant mind and heart checking, the refinement. It makes me want to selfishly keep Elizabeth an only child. That road still has lingering affects on me. On how I view motherhood.
This issue of personhood and the affects it will have on the world of infertility breaks my heart in two. I personally know more people than I ever thought possible who have walked this road. Who have conceived children via IVF, IUI, fertility medications. Who may not have been able to if personhood legislation would have passed.
Elizabeth may not be here if personhood legislation would have passed.
And I would wholeheartedly vote YES if presented the opportunity.
See the problem.
Last October when we had our first ultrasound, Elizabeth was 5 weeks old and I was 7 weeks along. The average person finds out they are pregnant when they are 5 weeks along and the fetus or what I will continue to call a baby, is 3 weeks old. Just 2 weeks past that point and we heard a real live heartbeat.
That means from the time egg and sperm joined a heart was being formed. At that point the gender of the child is set. All DNA is contained in that cell. And by the time that baby is just a couple of weeks old, oxygen is being poured in, sustaining life.
And this legislation would define life differently. So that certain procedures could take place. Procedures that help aid in the creation of life. Just like eating a gluten free diet can or taking this supplement or that. But there’s the flaw in our thinking.
Infertility treatments are NOT creating life.
Your holistic lifestyle is NOT creating life.
God alone creates life.
He alone allows for egg and sperm to join.
He alone sustains that life.
You may not agree. But the numbers illustrate just that. IVF only holds a 50-60% chance. They are creating a life in a dish. This, scientifically, should have a 100% rate of success. But it doesn’t. And when you walk through infertility you are acutely aware of how precious life is. You know when life is created. Because when two pink lines appear, you rejoice that there is LIFE WITHIN!
And when we go through procedures, when we desire with all that we are to have children, we should be thinking of what we are doing. We should take everything into consideration. We should have moral grounding. We should be held accountable for what we are doing.
But how to walk forward, how to answer the questions, how to pave the way where personhood and the treatment for infertility are given respect, is not an easy road to walk.
I know that this legislation is not being looked at through the lens of a God who creates life. I know that in our lifetime personhood legislation will probably never pass in favor of life.
But I know that I can vote YES, a person is a person no matter how small, and I know that one can undergo treatment for infertility in a way that respects life.
It’s possible.
I’m sorry Resolve, but if given the chance, I won’t be voting no.
Great post! I think about that a lot whenever I see Resolve's regular twitter feed about how this legislation is "attacking the family."
ReplyDeleteIt's wild to me how people think infertility treatment (and especially IVF) is 100% guaranteed. (They get so confused when I say we went through treatment and doctors didn't have a reason and we never sustained a pregnancy.) And how hard it is to think through options you know could help you have a family that maybe aren't okay with your ethics and what God wants you to do. We were very sure God didn't want us to do IVF. But it was hard sometimes when our doctor literally said "I think you'll get pregnant if you do IVF."
When people like you and me who've been through infertility (and are still infertile, like you said) speak out against this, it means something different. Go girl!!