By Jonathan Imbody
At a time when Congress is fiercely debating whether to protect human embryos or destroy them for research, a handful of squirming, laughing, crying, and sleeping toddlers offered convincing evidence for their right to life.
The families who spoke at the U.S. Capitol on September 22 are part of a growing movement that provides a humane alternative to disposing of or conducting research on "excess" human embryos created by in vitro fertilization (IVF). It's called "embryo adoption."
One of the sponsors of the gathering, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), said the purpose of the program "is to take these little children and give them the potential to live the rest of their lives as the gifts from God that they are."
Congressman Mike Pence (R-In.) praised the gathering. "Now why would people come from Berne, Indiana?" he asked. "Well, the answer can be found in their 18-month-old twins Caroline and Spencer who are a daily and profound reminder that embryonic adoption should be preferred in the law always over destroying human embryos for stem-cell research."
Cong. Pence added, "You see, Caroline and Spencer Keim are fully human today, just as they were 18 short months ago when they were in the frozen embryonic stage of their development. They stand as a living testament to the truth that it would have been morally wrong to destroy their embryonic lives even for well-intentioned medical research."
One mother after another took turns at a press conference sponsored by Focus on the Family to explain why legislators should view their children, each adopted in the embryo stage, as human beings - - not as fodder for lethal experiments. Families also voiced strong opposition to "The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2004." (H.R. 4682), a bill to require federal funding of stem cell research that requires killing IVF-created human embryos.
"Human embryos are not 'goldfish'"
Suzanne Murray, a nurse who along with husband, Peter, adopted their daughter Mary as an embryo, recalled a September 14, 2000, hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee on embryonic stem cell research.
Mrs. Murray noted, "Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and actress Mary Tyler Moore used dehumanizing and demeaning language to describe our daughter, Mary." She continued, "You see, on that day, Mary was an embryo whose future was in frozen suspension. Without knowing her or considering her humanity during this vulnerable stage of development, Sen. Harkin referred to our Mary as a 'dot.' Ms. Moore likened our daughter to a 'goldfish.'"
But human embryos are not "dots" or "goldfish," Mrs. Murray said, "and Mary stands before you today as proof."
While some researchers lobbying Congress to fund destructive embryonic stem cell research have dangled cures in front of desperate patients, not everyone is rising to the bait.
As adoptive mother of a two-year-old, Kate Johnson explained that she and her husband, Steve, were unable to conceive because of a spinal injury Steve suffered in a bicycle accident. "Some proponents of destructive embryonic stem cell research, like [actor] Christopher Reeve, point to their disabilities as a reason to destroy frozen embryos for stem cells," she said. "For Steve, all he has to do is look at our daughter Zara, who would not be here with us today if someone had dissected her for embryonic stem cell research."
Mrs. Johnson added, "In reality, it more likely that Steve's paralysis will be reversed using adult stem cells, as evidenced by a recent Senate hearing featuring two paralyzed women who can now walk with the aid of walkers thanks to adult stem cell therapies."
Adoptive mother Sharon Tesdall agreed. "Embryonic stem cell research has not successfully treated a single patient, and there is no promise of it ever doing so," she said. "While some want to destroy IVF embryos in the pursuit of treating some medical conditions, we advocate using IVF embryos to treat another medical condition: infertility."
Mrs. Tesdall argued that embryo adoption "provides a 'cure' for everyone involved," most importantly, "the child whose gift of life is realized."
Lifesaving alternatives
Ronald Stoddart, executive director of Nightlight Christian Adoptions - - the organization that facilitated the embryo adoption of the children present at the press conference - - lamented the ethical and economic dark side of in vitro fertilization.
"Couples who create embryos through IVF do so at an expense of tens of thousands of dollars and an emotional roller coaster ride," Stoddart observed. "Although the genetic parents plan to use 88 percent of these embryos for future attempts to build their family, 12 percent are literally in frozen orphanages. Some refer to this 12 percent as 'excess embryos.' The word, 'excess,' is dehumanizing and inaccurate."
A study of 217 in vitro fertilization clinics across the country, reported this month by the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University, noted that fertility clinics vary widely in what they do with frozen human embryos from IVF procedures who are not implanted into a mother.
University of Penn bioethicist Arthur Caplan, who was part of the team that conducted the survey, told the Associated Press, "I don't think anyone who deals with these frozen embryos considers them to be persons. But I think that they feel they are deserving of respect. ... They see the potential for life in this material."
Gene Rudd, M.D., an obstetrician and associate executive director of the Christian Medical Association (CMA), scoffed at such hedging.
"Saying that they 'respect' them while then proceeding to kill them for the sake of other ambitions is illogical and dispassionate," Dr. Rudd asserted. He said that to resolve the problem of so-called "excess" embryos, CMA has "called for parents undergoing reproductive technologies to allow the in vitro process to produce only the number of embryos they are committed to implant now or later, regardless of whether successful pregnancy is achieved early in the process. Our embryos are no less our responsibility than our born children."
Dr. Rudd explained that CMA has fostered the establishment of the National Embryo Donation Center to link embryos with adopting parents and to provide the reproductive technologies necessary for them to have chance to be born.
As adoptive mother Cara Vest noted, "IVF parents have a moral responsibility to their offspring that cannot be fulfilled by donating them for research or discarding them as medical waste."
Embryo adoption, she concluded, "is a win-win for everyone involved."
Jonathan Imbody is senior policy analyst for the Christian Medical Association.