To the editor: As columnist Michael Hiltzik points out, the so-called IVF Protection Act, authored by Republican Senators Katie Britt (Ala.) and Ted Cruz (Texas), does nothing to ensure that IVF patients have control over their destiny. of their embryos.
Unlike a fetus in the womb, a frozen embryo has no prospects for life without a complex protocol of hormonal preparation and thawing of the embryo for a delicate transfer to a properly prepared womb. In custody disputes and lawsuits over embryo loss and damage, courts have treated frozen embryos as property, not as living or even potential human beings.
Now, as an extension of the abortion debate, attempts are being made to limit access to contraception. What's next, creating protections for eggs and sperm? Welcome to Gilead.
Arthur L. Wisot, MD, Boynton Beach, Florida.
The writer is a co-founder of a fertility practice in Southern California.
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To the editor: My wife and I have three teenage children. I thought about adding “wonderful,” but they’re teenagers, so we’ll leave it at that.
The oldest two are twins conceived through IVF. We were very lucky in this process, as my wife got pregnant on the first try. With twins no less.
Let me take you back to the process:
After collecting eggs and sperm, the lab worked its magic and showed us a blown-up slide with about 12 groups of cells. Two were large and round, two were quite large and mostly round, and eight were increasingly smaller and not round at all. The doctors told me that the first two were the most viable, the second pair would be our alternatives and the rest “were not viable” and, I assume, would be discarded.
After our twins, we “held” the stock for several years before we were contacted to donate the frozen embryos to another couple or for scientific research, or destroy them. This was after the birth of our third child.
My wife and I debated how we felt about other people carrying our DNA and whether those groups of cells were still good. It was our choice and we lived with it. It's really no one else's business.
Niels Goerrissen, Port City
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To the editor: If frozen embryos are to be considered people, does that mean we Californians could increase our representation in Congress by including them in our census?
I think it's a good way to increase the impact of our electoral college.
Rich Lewis, Studio City
