The octuplet "mess" will just not want to go away, especially now with a sperm donor claiming to be involved in the mix as shown on Good Morning America.
However, there were several articles over the last few days that I think will help everyone take a look at the real costs of multiples births, as well as how this one case may end up forcing the industry to take a good look at itself.
The first one is through the New York Times, and it takes a hard look at the fertility industry. They think that the octuplets' birth is a real wake up call:
"The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the association of fertility doctors, even adopted guidelines in 2008 encouraging the transfer of only one embryo for women under 35, and no more than two, except in extraordinary circumstances. The guidelines allow more for older women, up to a maximum of five.
But unlike some other countries, the United States has no laws to enforce those guidelines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a surveillance system that collects data on fertility clinics, but reporting is voluntary and there are no government sanctions for not reporting.
As a result, experts say many doctors are still implanting too many embryos to increase the chance of pregnancy. Only 11 percent of in vitro procedures in the United States involve single embryos, according to 2006 data from the C.D.C."
Click Here for the Complete Article
Furthermore, in Newsweek, an article by Dr. Mark Evans talks about the other side of multiple births - selective reduction. He states the following:
"When I first heard that a California woman had given birth to octuplets after undergoing in vitro fertilization, I couldn't believe it. As the details of Nadia Suleman's story emerged, it became only more incredible. As it turned out, a clinic transferred six embryos (two of which later split into identical twins) to Suleman, who had six children already, meaning she was extremely fertile. I have nothing against IVF. More than 2 million women worldwide have children because of it. But with the increase in fertility treatments, the U.S. birthrate of twins has more than doubled in the past 30 years. Overlooked in the happy news, though, are the troubling surges in neonatal deaths, developmental disabilities and other long-term problems.
For those reasons, doctors prefer to avoid multiple births. But with each cycle of IVF costing more than $10,000, there's enormous pressure to get patients pregnant—fast. Guidelines of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine and the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technologies say that in women under 35, usually only one or two embryos should be transferred to the uterus in any cycle. The U.S. average is 2.4. A third of such pregnancies result in twins, and 4.3 percent yield triplets or more. In women over 35, the overall pregnancy rate falls dramatically, and the proportion of multiples goes up."
He goes on to talk about the criticism that he receives regarding selective reduction as a solution in some cases:
"Of course, selective reduction can be an agonizing decision for a parent, but most of the couples who come to me have had a longstanding infertility problem. For them, selective reduction is just one more hurdle to deal with. But they are better able to cope when they know the facts: a woman with a quadruple pregnancy has about a 25 percent chance of losing all four babies, but she can decrease the loss rate to about 5 percent by reducing to twins. The risks of prematurity, cerebral palsy and genetic abnormalities (if tested) are all reduced, too.
Reduction will always be controversial. A woman has an abortion because she wants—for whatever reason—to not have a child. But women who have reductions are often desperate to have children. In high-risk situations, reduction may be the best way—sometimes the only way—for that to happen. I realize that in the minds of pro-lifers, this reasoning is flawed. But if performing this procedure means that couples who have suffered years of anguish can have their own healthy children, I'll take all the criticism I get."
Click Here for Complete Article
Theresa M. Erickson, Esq.
Surrogacy Lawyer & Egg Donation Lawyer
www.EricksonLaw.net
Subscribe to my blog at: http://www.surrogacyeggdonorblog.com/subscribe.html
