11.01.2005

Further proof that anti-choicers are out of touch with reality

Our friends at Lifesite were kind enough to inform me that Brooke Shields is pregnant with her second child. This news only matters to me because it promises to give us another viewing of an apoplectic Tom Cruise, and frankly, the battier he gets, the more interesting he becomes. Particularly because it detracts from his abysmal movies. Seriously, did anyone see War of the Worlds?

Of course, Lifesite is hardly in the business of reporting on celebrities, so what purpose could they possibly have to comment on Ms. Shields? Well, to damn her for using in-vitro fertilization, of course!

Movie star Brooke Shields is pregnant with her second child. She already has a daughter with her husband, TV writer Chris Henchy, conceived by in-vitro fertilization. Presumably this second child is also an IVF baby, although news sources did not reveal this information.

Shields wrote about her experience of severe depression following the birth of Rowan Francis in 2003 in her book Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression. Australian researchers revealed in August that women who conceive through IVF are four times more likely to suffer from post-partum depression and early parenting difficulties as compared to women who conceive naturally.

IVF creates children outside of the loving union of a man and a woman. Furthermore, the lives of the embryonic children conceived by the IVF procedure are under severe threat since the latest statistics have revealed that over 85% of embryos transferred in the procedure die in the process. With over a million children having been born via IVF, that would amount to nearly six million embryonic children killed with the procedure.

Unfortunately for Lifesite, blaming women for post-partum depression doesn’t make them nearly as interesting as Tom Cruise. Nor does condemning the millions of would-be parents who are unable to conceive children through “natural” means.

I’m going to say this again, because apparently it bears repeating. Embryos die. They die at a rate of 50% during “natural” conception, when for some reason or another they are expelled from a woman’s body before being implanted in the uterus. Spontaneous abortion is as much a part of “natural” reproduction as happy, healthy babies. Death, as much as these people hate to admit it, is a natural and inevitable part of life. Some of us live to a ripe old age, some of us are killed in car accidents, and still others of us never make it past the embryonic stage.

As for the link between IVF and post-partum depression, guess what? Not as clear-cut as Lifesite wants you to think:

The group also found that women who became mothers using IVF were likely to be older, have multiple births and require delivery by Caesarean section. All these factors have been linked to an increased risk of postnatal depression in previous studies. These findings led the researchers to speculate that 'a previous history of fertility difficulties, advanced maternal age, assisted conception, operative delivery and multiple birth may heighten the risk for postpartum mood disturbance and early parenting difficulties'.

Seems that the circumstances that drive women toward IVF (advanced age, fertility difficulties, etc) are the same things that increase the risk for postpartum depression. Correlation, darlings, not causation.

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N.B. - This marks my inaugural Passive-Aggressive Use of Quotation Marks post. From this point on, I will co-opt the favored tactic of the right and use quotation marks inappropriately, paying special attention to words that fundies really like. "Natural" makes its debut here. In the future, I hope to use "heterosexual," "fetus" and "Christian."

Labels: Fundies Say The Darndest Things, Keep Your Rosaries Off My Ovaries

annamaria at 11:30 AM

2 spoke

2 Comments

at Friday, November 04, 2005 10:33:00 AM  Kurt said...

I will wholeheartedly endorse the use of quotation marks when referring to "Christian" politic "spokespeople."
As an evangelical person of faith, I am often offended by those persons purporting to represent all believers.
NPR (I love NPR) had an interview this morning with former President Jimmy Carter. Mr. Carter articulates his differences with these people, as well as a fundamental difference in GOP and Democrats world view. Listen to the Steve Inskeep interview.

 

at Friday, November 04, 2005 11:55:00 AM  annamaria said...

Yes, I probably should have noted that I will only use quotation marks when a person's Christianity is called into question. This will always and forever exempt people like Jimmy Carter and Johnny Cash, who I will respect until my dying day.

 

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