I have to admit, the first time I thought of considering IVF, I was faced with some moral dilemmas. This is mainly due to the multiple fertilisation that leads to the production of several embryos. From what I knew then, one has to decide how many embryos will be implanted back to the uterus. What do you do then to the remaining embryos? If pro-life advocates believe that life starts at conception, then those embryos are the start of human life. Discarding them means terminating life. It's abortion.
My second dilemma is that IVF is like interfering with God's plan. It is a scientific process of "creating life" outside the human body. I figured, if it is God's will for someone to have a child, God can make it happen. It doesn't have to be IVF.
Other than my moral concerns, I also had concerns about the impact of IVF on the body. I already talked about it HERE.
Over the past few years, I've read more about IVF. As I learn more, my moral dilemmas seem to fade. First and foremost, I have come to understand infertility more. There are many causes of infertility and some of them can be easily addressed through lifestyle changes, medication or medical procedures. Some cases like blockages in the fallopian tubes, and male-factor infertility (low or no sperm count) can only be addressed through IVF.
In addition, while IVF involves fertilisation outside of the body, its success still largely depends on "nature". Basically, the doctors and embryologists can only do so much. That's the reason why the success rate for IVF remains low. If it were entirely dependent on science, then we would see 100% success for every IVF procedure. However, nowhere in the world is IVF a guaranteed process. For instance, in our case, I consider it a miracle of God that our embryo developed up to blastocyst stage. The success rate is only 50%. I had ONE egg. The embryologist injected the sperm into the egg, and let nature take its course. We prayed, and God gave us a miracle. The next stage would be to transfer the embryo back into to woman's body. The doctors will do the transfer but again, once it's in the body, nature takes over. The embryo will have to attach to the uterus, and develop into a baby. Some embryos do not progress. Success rate for my age range is below 50%. Given this, I really see the doctors as facilitators, but God remains to be the sole author of life. Life cannot begin outside of His will. Each pregnancy, whether natural or assisted, is a miracle.
During my last visit, I was asked if I wanted to proceed to embryo transfer or if I want to collect more eggs for fertilisation. That way, we have several back up embryos in case we experience unsuccessful pregnancy from the first transfer. It was an easy decision to proceed. First, because we are claiming victory on the first try. We have prayed and continue to pray for God's miracle and I am claiming that in faith. Secondly, I don't want to discard any "unwanted" embryos. I do not know for sure whether life begins at that stage, or whether life begins when there is already a heartbeat. The Bible isn't clear about that, so this is one of those instances where it's all about one's personal conviction. I don't want that on my conscience, so I decided based on my personal conviction. In fact, two eggs were harvested from my ovaries, but only one was viable for fertilisation. So I also took that as a divine intervention, God leading me to the right path so I won't have to make that difficult decision.
With this, I continue to ask for prayers. Let us pray for God's guidance and wisdom upon our doctors. Let us pray for God's miracle of life.
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