Sometimes marital relationships become tenuous over the issue of children. When couples are unable to conceive some 5 percent turn to in vitro fertilization IVF, a costly procedure.
Unlike artificial insemination, IVF is closer to “test tube” babies. With IVF an embryo is grown outside of the uterus within a laboratory where sperm and eggs are combined. Once a viable embryo is formed, they are then implanted in the uterus. WebMD
But for childless couples, IVF is not the only option as women today turn to surrogate mothers as well as adoption.
Given the extraordinary case of the California woman who gave birth to eight babies this week, IVF is in the news again. Many are beginning to question the ethics of the procedure given the fact that the woman is a single mother who already has six other babies that were born though this same procedure. ABC News reported “Octuplet Birth to Single Mom of Six Sparks Debate.” ABC News
Apparently she was able to use eggs that were still frozen.
A CHILDLESS WRITER GIVES AN INTERVIEW
For many married women, the inability to have children triggers extreme anxiety and depression. But there are women today who are childless by choice or circumstance. Myths about childless women abound. But thanks to an interview given by Christina Gombar to Beyond Blue’s Therese J. Borchard – the myths are exposed.
Christina’s message is simple and reassuring, “…society, and the media especially, needs to start getting the message across that adults without children are O.K. just as they are.” Author of “Great Women Writers,” Christina has been the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow. www.ChristinaGombar.com
The interview is her reflection on being childless and it is also a rich resource for other women looking to share their experiences online. She makes a compelling point for all women who are saddened by the fact that they do not have children.
She says: “As I blogged on the New York Times, when celebrities are showcased having babies in their forties, then fifties, society gradually sees this as normal. Mainstream consumer magazines run articles about freezing your eggs in your twenties, so you can have a baby at 45, instead of talking about retuning society and the economic system to make it easier for young women to have children at biologically natural ages.
“The solution really, is not to come up with newer and more advanced fertility treatments or yet more third-world adoption options. But to make the world safe and welcoming for people who wind up without children, often for very good reasons.”
“Many childless people feel bereaved — it is a situation that deserves respect, not pity or gloating.”
To read the full interview please go to:Beyond Blue
World News Network: In some marriages, couples are childless
Copyright 2009 Rita Watson