Leave fertility issues to families

(March 19, 2009) — I am a mom. I’m proud to say that. It was a hard road to get here.

My husband and I, like thousands of other Georgians, achieved our dream of having a family thanks to fertility treatment. I can hear my 1-year old twin daughters babble to each other in their cribs as they wake up from a nap. Hearing those sounds now is worth every dime of our savings, every painful procedure, the twice daily injections, and month after month of heart-aching disappointment over our two years of treatment.

I’m also a conservative. I spent years arguing conservative principles as a spokesperson for law enforcement and Republicans in Georgia, including a stint as Gov. Sonny Perdue’s spokeswoman. We fought for greater personal accountability, less waste in government and strengthening Georgia families. I’m for the death penalty, the right to bear arms and limited government.

But Georgia Senate Republicans lost me this year. And they might have lost thousands of conservative, family-oriented moms like me across Georgia.

Early versions of Senate Bill 169, “The Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos Act,” had me fuming. Sen. Ralph Hudgens (R-Hull) saw a golden opportunity to tap into public outrage over the scandalous and reprehensible actions of “Octo-Mom” Nadya Suleman who achieved her 14 children through in-vitro fertilization.

Hudgens sponsored a proposal that would stipulate the number of embryos a fertility clinic can implant in a patient. He thought it was a good idea for Georgia politicians to determine the number of embryos that a couple and their doctor can use to try to have a child.

But he wasn’t done quite yet. He also tried to take away the decision of what to do with frozen embryos from the couple that made them. All of these provisions would make it less likely that a couple facing fertility challenges could get pregnant, and set reproductive medicine in Georgia back decades.

With all due respect, does Hudgens, an “investor” with an agriculture degree, have the expertise to make decisions about my reproductive medical treatment? Is he more qualified than my doctor at Emory, who studied reproductive endocrinology for two-and-a-half decades?

And my good friend with triplets, does this make one of her three girls illegal? Read more...

Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution