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A Question Mark Hangs Over Their Heads (problems faced by IVF children)
Catholic Exchange ^ | May 17, 2011 | Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk

Posted on 05/17/2011 6:21:03 AM PDT by NYer

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Fr. Pacholczyk earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, MA, and serves as the Director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia.

(This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)

1 posted on 05/17/2011 6:21:09 AM PDT by NYer
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To: netmilsmom; thefrankbaum; Tax-chick; GregB; saradippity; Berlin_Freeper; Litany; SumProVita; ...
The Sperm-Donor Kids Are Not Really All Right
2 posted on 05/17/2011 6:22:10 AM PDT by NYer ("Be kind to every person you meet. For every person is fighting a great battle." St. Ephraim)
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To: NYer

Truly sad what happens when people try to play the role of God.


3 posted on 05/17/2011 6:23:46 AM PDT by pnh102 (Regarding liberalism, always attribute to malice what you think can be explained by stupidity. - Me)
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To: NYer; wagglebee; little jeremiah
We should never intentionally choose to set up situations where a child will be conceived in a manner that deprives him or her of a parent.

(Moral absolutes.)

4 posted on 05/17/2011 6:25:12 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Obama's "Gutsy Decision": Who's gonna tell the fool that he ain't cool?)
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To: NYer; it_ürür; Bockscar; Mary Kochan; Bed_Zeppelin; YellowRoseofTx; Rashputin; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.


5 posted on 05/17/2011 6:29:18 AM PDT by narses ("Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions." Chesterton)
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To: NYer

But please LOVE and EMBRACE these children, they did not ask to be born by this means.


6 posted on 05/17/2011 6:35:45 AM PDT by Biggirl ("Jesus talked to us as individuals"-Jim Vicevich/Thanks JimV!)
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To: NYer

The angst expressed by children in this article sounds much like that of many adopted children.

Sure, their experience is different, but are they better off than they would be otherwise? In the case of the in vitro kids, would they rather never have existed? Maybe so.

I’m not arguing the pros and cons of in vitro. The point is that we all look around ourselves and yearn for what we perceive is the better life of others.

There is no perfection on this earth. No family, no body, no collection of experiences called “life”.

We all have to take what we’re given and make the best of it.


7 posted on 05/17/2011 6:48:38 AM PDT by Jedidah
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To: Biggirl

Please love and embrace ALL children. None of them asked to be born into this imperfect world.


8 posted on 05/17/2011 6:50:11 AM PDT by Jedidah
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To: NYer

His documentation about the harms of IVF relates almost entirely to sperm donors. A lot of IVF is for couples who are having trouble to conceive the usual way. My sister did that for two of her babies. Do we know what percent of IVF pregnancies use either eggs or sperm from someone other than the parent?


9 posted on 05/17/2011 7:03:21 AM PDT by Fractal Trader
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To: Biggirl; NYer

>>But please LOVE and EMBRACE these children, they did not ask to be born by this means.<<

Why would you think that NYer wouldn’t?


10 posted on 05/17/2011 7:04:55 AM PDT by netmilsmom (Happiness is a choice.)
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To: NYer; Tax-chick; 185JHP; 230FMJ; AKA Elena; Albion Wilde; Aleighanne; Alexander Rubin; ...
Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

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[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]


11 posted on 05/17/2011 7:05:19 AM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: Biggirl

“But please LOVE and EMBRACE these children, they did not ask to be born by this means.”

I agree wholeheartedly. The problem is, with New Age, pop phsychology, they won’t find a constructive means to deal with their feelings. Instead most of them will end up in dysfunctional lifestyles while their overpriced shrinks tell them their behavior isn’t their fault, blah blah blah


12 posted on 05/17/2011 7:13:15 AM PDT by surroundedbyblue
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To: Jedidah
The angst expressed by children in this article sounds much like that of many adopted children.

As an adoptee and adoptive parent, let me assure you the difference between adoption and IVF conception is very different. Adoptees are the product of an unplanned pregnancy vs IVF children which were produced in a petri dish to gratify the desires of one or two individuals. The one child's perception was excellent - they are a commodity.

We all have to take what we’re given and make the best of it.

That is an adult statement. Think back to your teen years, when hormones were churning and youth seeking an 'identity'. One of my best friends, an adoptee who grew up in a loving home with two parents, asked me to help track down information on her birth parents. It is a natural desire to want to know what you inherited from the dna of your biological parents. Is there a history of heart disease or some other illness, etc.?

13 posted on 05/17/2011 7:14:14 AM PDT by NYer ("Be kind to every person you meet. For every person is fighting a great battle." St. Ephraim)
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To: Fractal Trader

“A lot of IVF is for couples who are having trouble to conceive the usual way.”

It’s my hope that these couples gorw to accept their infertility & unite their sufferings with that of Christ on the Cross. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and IVF is a perfect example of that. There is a reason why the Church is against it, & considers it immoral. It’s a pandora’s box


14 posted on 05/17/2011 7:16:54 AM PDT by surroundedbyblue
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To: surroundedbyblue
It’s my hope that these couples gorw to accept their infertility & unite their sufferings with that of Christ on the Cross. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and IVF is a perfect example of that. There is a reason why the Church is against it, & considers it immoral. It’s a pandora’s box

There is foster parenting, Adoption etc... available as well. For some childless couples they can act as support for other parents (and Yes I am speaking from experience).

15 posted on 05/17/2011 7:29:37 AM PDT by verga (I am not an apologist, I just play one on Television)
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To: NYer

I wonder if any of them suffer from the “why me” syndrome.

After all, many of their brothers and sisters don’t make it out of the embryonic state.


16 posted on 05/17/2011 7:35:30 AM PDT by Jvette
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To: Jedidah

I was thinking much the same thing. Children can be conceived in other ways that are far from God’s plan of the fulfillment of a loving adult relationship: through rape, or casual sex, or even unwanted children.

There are many less than ideal circumstances. I’d guess more children than we’d like to admit find themselves in these.


17 posted on 05/17/2011 7:45:53 AM PDT by FourPeas ("Maladjusted and wigging out is no way to go through life, son." -hg)
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To: NYer

I do NOT support IVF, ok, and I don’t know what these kids may be facing. However, there are plenty of babies conceived in war and rape, in one-night stands, etc. And there are plenty of kids who grow up not knowing who their dads are, or worse, knowing who they are and not being parented well.

These children have the gift of life to spend in any way they choose. Hopefully it is not all spent whining.

(Is that too harsh?)


18 posted on 05/17/2011 7:48:04 AM PDT by bboop (Stealth Tutor)
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To: NYer

I agree with all you say.

The need to know who we are is inherent. Were I adopted (and there are many adoptees in my family), I would certainly research my bio family, just for the knowledge of my origins.

I wish for all children, IVF or adopted, that they come to the point of acceptance. All were wanted, either at irregular conception or at adoption, which is not necessarily true of the natural-born.

What happens afterward, adolescence and the rigors and disappointments of life, is common to all mankind.


19 posted on 05/17/2011 7:49:54 AM PDT by Jedidah
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To: Jedidah

Jedediah, that is exactly what I was thinking. They are yearning for the loving embrace of an intact family with parents who love them. This is often NOT the reality of families, and what is visible from the outside is often not what is really going on.

I connected up with a childhood friend recently. She told me she had loved our family, it had seemed like Leave it to Beaver to her. “Really?” I responded. Our dad was really mean and angry, it was anything but the Cleavers. And yet ... it blessed her and we had so much, regardless.


20 posted on 05/17/2011 7:52:15 AM PDT by bboop (Stealth Tutor)
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