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New York, 8:24 PM
Tue Nov 24
62 posts in the last 24 hours
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10/23/09
No it ... wait ... your syntax is confusing. Yes, it would be unrealistic, is the way to say it.
People who are really fixated on having their own baby have to go through a long journey to accept changing their expectations. You can't just switch it on and off.
Your thoughts on this issue are so mainstream they're stereotypical.
10/22/09
How come every time science comes up with something useful and good for millions of people, some reporter has to cry waily waily, we're playing god - nay, the devil!! #wombtransplant
10/22/09
10/22/09
Does that mean MEN can have babies now?!?!
*goes to watch Junior* #wombtransplant
10/22/09
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10/22/09
A. ADOPT. There are so many children on this planet that need loving homes! If you can't easily get pregnant, why put yourself through the risk of an extremely invasive and dangerous organ transplant surgery? Why bring more babies onto this earth? Do you go to the shelter to adopt a puppy or a breeder or puppy mill? (If the latter two, ugh...just ugh). And don't even say "well, a baby is not the same as a puppy." I know that. But I don't think that one life is worth more than another, regardless. That would be speciesism--just like sexism, racism, etc.
B. ANIMAL TESTING. for real? It is not the rabbit's fault that some women cannot get pregnant. It is not a rat's fault that we pollute our water systems with MeHg. I am taking a required toxicology class right now and the animal testing nonsense is unbelievable. If you really just need to see if a womb transplant works--put it in a human. We are so anthropocentric it kills me.
/rant. I know some people won't agree, and comment on, but I had to get it off of my chest! #wombtransplant
10/22/09
If adopting a baby were as easy as adopting a puppy there would not be so many children who never find a home. #wombtransplant
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10/22/09
Adoption, on the other hand starts at $20,000. US adoption is difficult and the birth mother can take the child away (up to a year I believe). Foreign adoptions are more expensive (let's say $30-$40K), but the adoptions are more or less set in stone. #wombtransplant
10/22/09
I have to admit, I have no desire to have children. I do not see what's appealing about it. I think that if more people REALLY thought about what it means to have kids, they might not? Or they might try adoption first? Again, I know that my thoughts on this are far from the mainstream. #wombtransplant
10/22/09
Besides, why is it any more evil or selfish to use ART instead of adoption than it is to get pregnant the regular old way? Why do so many people assume that couple with fertility issues have a special responsibility to wrangle with the nightmarish adoption system? #wombtransplant
10/22/09
10/22/09
Yes--this. If we're pushing for all the world's children to be adopted, it's not up to infertile couples or same sex couples to do it.
@pumpkinseed: Pushing adoption on infertile couples is insensitive and, frankly, infuriating--especially when one follows it up by saying they don't even know why anyone would want kids. If you can't understand the complexities of what an infertile couple is going through, and you don't understand their basic desire for a child, please keep your opinions to yourself. (ETA: Not on a comment board, obviously, but more in the general vein of this discussion. Obviously, on a comment section of a blog, you're free to express it.)
ETA: I realize you're making a general point about adoption by infertile couples and not talking to a specific person who is going through infertility, but it's important to realize that this is a deeply personal and very, very painful topic for most people, and most don't share their trials outside a close network of friends and family.
10/22/09
I know a couple who have gone the IVF route before considering adoption. I'm sure other people try adoption first. And I understand that both options can be extremely wretching and expensive.
Again, I don't see what's appealing about having children--so maybe I just really can't wrap my head around it. #wombtransplant
10/22/09
10/22/09
Everybody is so knee-jerky about this. Perhaps we should start doing something about it. #wombtransplant
10/22/09
For a lot of people, including me, IVF is covered by insurance. So why would I spend $30K on adoption when it is faster and cheaper to do IVF? If the answer is that I have some obligation to do so, why doesn't a couple who can conceive "naturally" have the same obligation?
I don't understand the point you're trying to make with this: I think that if more people REALLY thought about what it means to have kids, they might not? Or they might try adoption first?
I agree that some people, maybe even a lot, don't think about what having a kid is really like before they have them. So, sure, maybe if more people put more thought into it, they wouldn't get pregnant, or would wait to get pregnant. But why would that have anything to do with "trying adoption first?" #wombtransplant
10/22/09
This doesn't invalidate your opinion, or right to express it of course. But you probably shouldn't be surpised if people unload some major hostility on you. Frankly, the view that couples, and especially women, who pursue ART instead of adopting are just selfish, spoiled and self-indulgent is very mainstream, and the families who have suffered through infertility are probably very tired of hearing it. #wombtransplant
10/22/09
10/22/09
Also, my original post was regarding womb transplant, not ART in general. And I honestly don't think that ART is any more or less selfish than trying naturally. Again, too many babies, bad adoption policies. #wombtransplant
10/22/09
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10/22/09
Adoption is more invasive to me. No one comes and checks your house or calls your boss when you get IVF. #wombtransplant
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10/22/09
Resposible fertility doctors will put 1, 2, or 3 embryos back in depending on the woman's age and history of miscarriage etc. I know more than a dozen women who have had IVF and none have conceived more than twins. Most only conceive one baby. #wombtransplant
10/22/09
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10/22/09
As I was reading this, the first thing I thought was, this is really only potentially useful for a very small percentage of the population - very small. And the concept of needing to be on lifelong drugs raises a few red flags in terms of carrying a healthy pregnancy with the new womb. #wombtransplant
10/23/09
Maybe by the time this thing is developed for humans, they'l be able to grow us our own replacement parts from our stem cells.
10/22/09
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10/22/09
I'm sure many feel funding could be better spent on things with wider ranged application. #wombtransplant
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10/22/09
The question is, how many women are affected by this form of infertility, compared to how many women are affected by colon/breast cancer, or, say, Crohn's disease, or any of the thousands of other medical afflictions. And then there's the whole question of life-preserving vs life-enhancing, ya know?
I mean, I don't know the answers to these questions because I don't have the data in front of me. I'm just saying, it's not as simple as - if some people want it, it should be provided.
10/22/09
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10/22/09
Same shit, different day. #wombtransplant
10/22/09
Nobody actually needs a uterus for day-to-day living. #wombtransplant
10/22/09
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10/22/09
Seems like a pretty clear line to me. #wombtransplant
10/22/09
Family is what you make of it, however you get there. :) #wombtransplant
10/22/09
10/22/09
Only, a transplant is a MAJOR surgery. Surrogacy may be seen by some as distasteful, but it is relatively safe - at least as safe as a pregnancy normally is. I would assume IVF is relatively safe too, but I'm not going to presume to know much about it.
However, there are a ton of risks with any sort of transplant. I'd worry about the body rejecting the womb halfway through the pregnancy, the fact that a transplanted womb pretty much is guaranteed NOT to make it through labor and delivery without a c-section, and I wonder if it's possible to test if a human child can grow and develop inside a transplanted womb. Is there a way to find that out without actually having a woman go through the procedure and getting pregnant? The thought of impregnating a woman as an experiment to see if the child survives seems a little iffy to me.
I don't know - I'm definitely not involved in medicine in any way, shape, or form, so presumably this guy will have thought of all of these issues and more, and is working to make it safe. If so, I say more power to him, but there is still a huge amount of unknown until the procedure is completed on an actual woman, and not just an animal. #wombtransplant