- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
I'm wondering if some of you who are being so condescending toward those who are infertile, or so quick to offer up adoption as a cure-all have ever had to face this situation yourselves. (To all of you out there who have had one child and are considering having another, why don't you "just adopt"? What, I should mind my own business? Well, right back atcha. As someone wrote earlier, it isn't the sole responsibility of infertile people to take in the world's unwanted children. Bless those who do adopt, but it's a really personal decision.)
I can tell you that the whole thing is unbelievably complicated. Much more so than I ever thought it would be. It messes with everything you ever believed about yourself, and with everything you ever believed about the way the world is supposed to work.
That being said, I am not in favor of infertility treatment (other than the diagnostic part of it) being covered by insurance. I don't believe that infertility is an illness or a disability. It is an inability to do something that most other people can do with no effort. I believe that counseling and/or psychiatric services to allow people to work through this can and should be covered (and I believe they probably are), just as they would be covered for any other mental or emotional condition.
Infertile people are capable of making rational decisions about the pros and cons of treatments that are offered. But we need complete honesty from our physicians. When I was told that IVF would give me a 40% chance of having a child (approaching the age or 40, with two miscarriages behind me, and a diagnosis of unexplained infertility), I knew that this couldn't possibly be true. I did some research on my own, and found that it wasn't true. So, I decided to end my treatment. But, I wonder how many couples accepted that statistic and spent thousands of dollars on IVF that didn't work.
The drugs used in these cycles are extremely powerful, and I, for one, don't believe that the possible side-effects have been studied extensively enough.
