ARREST ME!

According to the progressive state of Texas I engaged in "human embryo trafficking" by donating my embryos to a couple who want to become parents. Texas to the rescue, guns a-blazin', to outlaw the huge international problem of embryo trafficking. Puh-leeze.

If HB 1703 passes in the Texas legislature, no one will be able to donate embryos unless they go through a proceeding to terminate their "parental" rights. No one will be able to transfer a frozen embryo unless they clear a full adoption process, including home study, etc and are approved by a judge. All this for a chance to become pregnant, not for a child.

Anyone who doubts the true agenda of embryo "adoption" groups should take a look at the text of this bill (unedited text appears below, except for all the boring stuff about how you can only "adopt" a human embryo. I guess if you want a puppy you still need to go to the pound).

A glance at this bill shows that its sponsors want to outlaw abortion. The first step is to legally define two-celled fertilized eggs as children and make their intended parents jump through $50,000 worth of hoops (adoption costs, legal costs plus embryo transfer cycle), possibly for nothing.

The reason TX wants embryos to be "adopted" is they want to outlaw all abortion. Defining an embryo as a child is the first step.

An embryo created in the womb (traditional way) or outside of it (alternative way) has a only a 25% chance of turning into a baby. So embryo "adoption" is a crock.

Here is the Texas law:

"Sec. 162.701. ADOPTION OF EMBRYO.

(a) A court order authorizing the adoption of a human embryo is required for the transfer of a human embryo to another person for implantation in any person who is not the genetic parent of the embryo or the spouse of a genetic parent.

(b) The court may grant the petition of a person residing in this state to adopt an embryo according to this subchapter.
Sec. 162.702. JURISDICTION; REQUIREMENTS OF PETITION. (a) The petitioner shall file a suit to adopt an embryo in a court in the county of the petitioner's residence.

(b) A petition to adopt an embryo shall be entitled "In the Interest of the Embryo of __________."

(c) If the petitioner is married, both spouses must join in the petition for adoption."

Not only is the embryo defined as a child who needs to be "adopted", the embryo is defined exactly as a child. The embryo's "best interests" must be considered by the court, so a bigoted judge can arbitrarily deny "custody" of the egg to the intended parents if they are gay, older than average, a different ethnicity than the people who created the embryo, fat, low income, have poor fashion sense, or for any reason the judge deems "in the best interests" of the egg:

"Sec. 162.703. CONSENT; COMPENSATION.

(a) A court may not grant an adoption of an embryo unless both the man and the woman who contracted for the creation of the embryo have relinquished their parental rights or consented in writing to the adoption by the petitioner and waived any interest in the human embryo.

(b) Compensation may not be paid or received to relinquish or waive a person's parental rights with regard to an embryo except for reimbursement for reasonable fees incurred to preserve or transport the embryo.

Sec. 162.704. ADOPTION ORDER. The court may grant the adoption if the court finds that the requirements for adoption of an embryo are met and the court finds that the adoption is in the best interest of the embryo."

If you think a fertilized egg is a child, do nothing. If you want to preserve your right to access infertility treatment or believe in a woman's right to decide what to do with her own body, I recommend you join infertility advocacy group the American Fertility Association at theAFA.org. And boycott Texas.

MEA CULPA

Most embryo donation agencies are run by religious groups which are trying to outlaw abortion. I disagree with their agenda. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that at least one of them encourages open embryo donation (though they call it adoption).

On the whole I think these organizations are bigoted, misguided and ultimately destructive. Part of their political agenda is to harm and oppress gay families like mine. If they could put a stop to all IVF they would do so. It utterly disgusts me that my tax dollars are used to fund religious fanatics like these (the Bush administration just gave them an additional million dollars to promote their cause). However, it is fair to give praise where it is due. Any group that tells families that honesty is the best policy is right to do so.

Another positive aspect of their (many, incredibly restrictive) rules is that they insist that no more than three embryos be transfered at once. This is because, being anti-abortion, they make recipients agree not to use selective reduction to ensure a safe pregnancy. They also warn families that multiples are dangerous for mother and baby. Frankly, having recipients limit embryos tansfered to two per cycle isn't a bad idea, as long as you're limiting things.

Still, it is difficult to read the literature put out by these groups. They refer to a two-celled pre-embryo as a "child" to be "adopted" even as they admit that only one in three thawed embryos typically becomes a child.

No one is completely good or completely bad. I thank them for promoting honesty and healthy pregnancies, though I abhor them for all the cruelty they show to gay families.

EMBRYO "ADOPTION" -- IS IT DANGEROUS FOR INFERTILE FAMILIES?

Embryo donation agencies run by right-wing Christian groups want to define every two-celled fertilized egg in your fertility clinic's freezer as a baby. That's why they call what is legally embryo donation "embryo adoption". These conservative groups promote their anti-choice agenda using millions of dollars in tax-payer money "donated" to them by the religious zealots who control the US White House.

Why should an infertile couple care whether a fertilized egg is a baby or not? Because after getting a pre-embryo defined as a person, the next obvious step is to outlaw or restrict both In Vitro Fertilization and embryo donation.

Patients who use IVF and have excess frozen embryos could be forced to give them to other infertile couples, no matter how they feel about having additional, unknown offspring floating around. A private decision, about which few are neutral, will be dictated by evangelical Christians to all, no matter what their beliefs.

In Catholic countries such as Italy, where separation between church and state is not a right, this has already happened. Couples who use IVF to conceive their children must implant all the resulting embryos at once. They are not allowed to freeze embryos for future use.

Besides the obvious disadvantage of having to transfer lots of embryos and take the risk of birth defects from twins, triplets or higher-order multiples, there is a more severe problem with this: Why, in God's name, is the Pope making medical decisions? If he is a doctor, he is certainly only a doctor of divinity, not a physician. I would no more look to his advice about how to perform a medical procedure than I would the janitor at my office.

The religious zealots who are trying to dictate US policy on fertility treatment and other matters belong neither in our doctors' offices nor in our bedrooms. They should not be allowed to set policy on any aspect of fertility treatment, family law or really anything except what goes on within the four walls of their churches. The idea that our government is funneling our tax dollars to pay for their bigoted approach to embryo donation is criminal.

Again, I urge all embryo donors and recipients to use only Miracles Waiting. It is the only embryo donation site I know run by normal people who have dealt with fertility issues, not wolves in priests' clothing.

EMBRYO DONATION IS NOT ADOPTION

There is a lot of confusion surrounding embryo donation. Legally, in the United States, embryo donation is a transfer of property. It has the same status as giving someone your car or your collection of mystery novels or any other item you own.

The difference between giving someone embryos and giving them a book or a banana is that a child may result from the gift of embryos. Or not. Depending on the cause of infertility and the skill of the fertility clinic performing the embryo transfer, the success rate per embryo transferred ranges from 17% to 65%. That means that as few as one out of every six embryos transferred will become a baby. An embryo is not a baby, it is a potential baby.

In nature, the success rate per fertilized human embryo is only 25%. Three of every 4 conventionally conceived pregnancies end in miscarriage before the woman is even aware she is pregnant. The fertilized egg just fails to implant in the womb.

For these reasons, it is wrong to say that spare embryos in fertility clinics are children. They simply are not. Most frozen embryos do not have the potential to become children just as most naturally conceived embryos will not become a child.

Embryo donation is not adoption. But just as I would screen a person to whom I was giving a cherished family heirloom or a kitten, an embryo donor has the right to make sure the prospective recipients will be good parents if a child does result from the donation.

My donation of my spare embryos may or may not result in a child. If it does, I want to make sure I picked the best parents possible for this precious gift.