
Science & Additional Commentary
PARAGRAPH 5
We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God’s eternal plan.
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Risks to women associated with egg retrieval include: Ovarian Hyper Stimulation syndrome (OHSS) due to superovulation, loss of fertility, ovarian torsion, stroke, kidney disease, premature menopause, ovarian cysts, and in some rare cases, death. Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council of the National Academies, “Assessing the Medical Risks of Human Oocyte Donation for Stem Cell Research: Workshop Report,” 2007.
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Because of the high costs associated with surrogacy, multiple embryos are often implanted in the surrogate mother. This leads to increased risk of caesarian sections and longer hospital stays. In addition researchers warn: “Multiple pregnancies are associated with maternal and perinatal complications such as gestational diabetes, fetal growth restriction, and pre-eclampsia as well as premature birth.” Kamphuis, E., Bhattacharya, S., van der Veen, F., and Mol, B.W.J., “Are We Overusing IVF?” British Journal of Medicine, 2014.
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Women pregnant with donor eggs have a more than three-fold risk of developing pregnancy induced hypertension and pre-eclampsia. Science Daily. “Pregnancies following egg donation associated with more than 3-fold higher risk of hypertension” July 1, 2014.
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Children born through assisted reproduction are much more likely to suffer from low and very low birth weights. Schieve, L., Meikle, S., Ferre, C., Petersen, H., Jeng, G., and Wilcox, L., “Low and Very Low Birth Weight in Infants Conceived with Use of Assisted Reproductive Technology,” New England Journal of Medicine, 346 (2002):731-737.
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Babies originating from commissioned embryos (embryos made from IVF) and carried by gestational surrogates (women who have no genetic relationship to the embryo) have increased incidences of preterm birth, low birth weight babies, maternal gestational diabetes, hypertension, and placenta previa, compared with the live births conceived spontaneously and carried by the same woman. Irene Woo, et al., “Perinatal Outcomes after Natural Conception vs. In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) in Gestational Surrogates: A Model to Evaluate IVF Treatment vs. Maternal Effects,” Fertility and Sterility, 108 6 (2017): pg. 993-998.
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Children conceived via IVF suffer from significant increases in preterm births, stillbirths (4-5 fold increase), low birth weights, fetal anomalies, higher blood pressure, and a host of other syndromes. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, “Are Children Born After Assisted Reproductive Technology at Increased Risk for Adverse Health Outcomes?” 2004. Merritt, T.A., Goldstein, M., Philips, R., Peverini, R., Iwokoshi, J., Rodriguez, A., and Oshiro, B. “Impact of ART on pregnancies in California: an analysis of maternity outcomes and insights into the added burden of neonatal intensive care,” Journal of Perinatology, 2014.
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The biological link between parent and child is undeniably intimate, and when severed has lasting repercussions felt by all parties. One study revealed that 50 percent of parents who had children conceived via egg donation went on to regret using anonymous donation. Frith, L., Sawyer, N., and Kramer, W., “Forming a family with sperm donation: a survey of 244 non-biological parents,” Reproductive BioMedicine, 2012.