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Monday, January 30, 2012

Thoughts on Newt?

I'm sure you've all read the news but I'm interested to see what you think about Newt Gingrich on the topic of IVF...Republican or Democrat. Here's a link to the article.

Here is just an excerpt from the article, "Gingrich added that he would also create a commission to study the ethics of in vitro fertilization, which has involved the creation of hundreds of thousands of excess embryos stored or discarded by fertility clinics.“I believe life begins at conception, and the question I was raising was what happens to embryos in fertility clinics, and I would favor a commission to look seriously at the ethics of how we manage fertility clinics,” Gingrich said at a news conference outside another Baptist church here. “If you have in vitro fertilization, you are creating life; therefore, we should look seriously at what the rules should be for clinics that are doing that, because they are creating life.”

Thoughts???

7 comments:

Christa said...

Let me start by saying I'm liberal. With that said, I think Newt is a hypocritic a$$hole. Republicans are for a smaller government with less regulation....for businesses. When it comes to people's lives they want to dictate everything we do. I personally believe my child's life begins when the heart starts beating, not when they are an embryo. Many IVFers feel different. Some people feel all their failed IVF's are actually miscarriages. Some people feel babies are people only when they can live outside the womb. Just because we have different views doesn't give us the right to push those views on others. I don't believe in abortion or stem cell research but if I were president that wouldn't give me the right to make it illegal. Newt bitches about the media interfering in a politician's life (remember the recent debate when he was asked about his extramarital affair) yet somehow it's okay for the government to interfere? Like I said, hypocritical

Baby Hopes said...

Wow... I have to say, it takes a lot of courage to be honest about my opinion here, because I get heat from both sides. Politically, I don't really fit anywhere. I'm more middle of the road. [I think Newt is a hypocrite as well, and I can't stand the guy. At all.]

That said, I am one that believes life begins at conception, and I've been that way since before I knew of my fertility issues. We carefully researched every part of the IVF process. None of our embryos made it to freeze, and the two that came home with us didn't make it. I grieved them. I also grieved our early miscarriage.

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with looking in to how embryos are graded, handled, etc. I wasn't comfortable with how high of a standard our IVF clinic had for keeping embryos, because I know of women in this community whose embryos fell below that standard made it to become healthy, happy children. We would have appreciated more say in what was happening with our embryos. If it were my choice, every one of our embryos would have been frozen (unless they had stopped growing, which ours did). We won't go back to the same IVF clinic because of it.

In the end, I can't think of a single person that is happy about the extent to which our government governs. Some feel that the government interferes too much in business, finance, and the economy... others feel that the government interferes too much in medical issues and personal ethics or choices.

All of that said... I think that if someone adopts a right to life stance, it should at least be consistent. Otherwise to me, it's rendered completely hypocritical. Life doesn't end at birth. Too often, one side is fighting to support and sustain life up to birth, and the other fights for sustaining a minimum standard of life after birth (broader programs for poverty, health care, etc.). The fact is that the majority of those in poverty or without health care are CHILDREN. In my opinion, there is not nearly enough being done about sustaining and supporting that life after birth. Life requires more than birth... life requires food, shelter, health care... there's a lot lacking. It also involves our stance on the death penalty, war, and foreign aid.

I'm a consistent right to lifer. It's not at all a popular position to take and I get a lot of heat from both sides. But it's the only stance I feel comfortable with.

Megan said...

Ditto to what Christa says. I wish politicians would keep their damn noses out of my uterus and reproductive rights.

Megan said...

Ditto to what Christa says. I wish politicians would keep their damn noses out of my uterus and reproductive rights.

Sarah said...

I personally don't think you can consider a fertilized egg to be a living being. For one, having never implanted in the uterine lining, a fertilized cell has no more chance of survival than a clump of skin cells. They just aren't designed to exist on their own.

Next, I agree with pp who said that if you are going to say you're pro-life, you have to be pro-life all the time. This includes the death penalty and finding ways for families to survive. While I can't see abortion ever being the right choice for me, I don't presume that I know everyone's situation nor do I have a right to judge what is right for them.

Jos said...

I agree with everything Sarah said!

Also, even after struggling with IF, I'm still a pro-choicer, b/c it's not my place to choose what someone else does with their uterus (ESPECIALLY in the case of rape or incest).

Hilary said...

Ugh, that is tough! I am generally a Republican, but when it comes to abortion, I can't say I side with one party or another, because when it comes down to it, I've never been in that position, so I don't know what I would do if I were facing a choice to abort or not to abort. That being said, I think if God wanted US to determine at what point life begins, I think he would have made it 100% clear. If you believe in your heart that a life is created at conception, and that's the way God meant for it to be, I don't think you'll be judged any differently than someone who truly believes that a life isn't a life until it's viable. I mean, God isn't sending people to hell and laughing saying, "You guessed wrong, suckaaaa!" You know? I think God will give us the desires of our heart, and if he created man with the knowledge to figure out how to give a woman a baby that she may not be able to have on her own, and if you don't believe you're violating any moral laws in doing so, then more power to you!