"The IVF revolution is money badly spent"

[Jas]

What a load of bs! This idea of survival of the fittest and talking about stats of ivf babies I would be interested to see how these compare with stats for babies who are conceived without the help of ivf? Who says ivf babies are not as fit!!

Why don't we stop public health care for the elderly because they aren't as fit and for ppl that write stupid articles like this or why don't we just get rid of public health care and why not all goverment assistance? That way only "the fittest" will survive!

[sushee]

My IVF son survived because he was the fittest. He survived and grew despite being in a completely unnatural environment.

He survived being poked and prodded, kept in a petri dish for 5 days, and transferred via a catheter. He survived when he only had a 25% (or so) chance of surviving. He made it when 13 other embryos didn't make it.

So nothing this woman says impacts me and how I feel about my IVF child.

[bella55]

What a judgemental misinformed idiot! I am an emergency nurse who just yesterday was looking after a 19 year old IV drug user who is pregnant with her "third child". Her other two children have been placed in care but not before long stays in hospital (and probably ongoing) for complications arrising from the mothers drug and alcohol abuse while pregnant - and she wants to talk about costs to the public health system.
I just tried to write an email but like bon said she doesn't deserve my time plus i'm way to angry!.

xxBella

I was thinking exactly the same thing sushee!

[helle]

Ugh, what a silly woman.
This quite really got to me..

That means more than a quarter required expensive, taxpayer- subsidised neonatal care. And what of the untold heartbreak and failures?

Because it's not heartbreaking to TTC for months on end and still have AF show up? Surely that would be just as heartbreaking as IVF.

and this

As recently as 2005, the AIHW was made aware that the perinatal death rate was 7.3 deaths per 1000 births in even the most responsible forms of IVF - where a single embryo was implanted (rather than several in order to increase the chances of a live birth).

Single ones are implanted because they have a hirer success rate of not getting lost later. It's much harder to carry twins, triplets or quads to fill term than a single baby. Wouldn't that add to the death rate, losing 4 babies at 18 weeks, for example??

Blah. What a cow.

[Ella'sMum]

Can someone PLEASE tell me that this twit has not ProCreated herself! Someone this ignorant, uninformed and selfish shouldn't be left with the responsibility of another human life!

[Willow]

It's absolute crapola - what about those of us with secondary infertility? I was quite capable of naturally conceiving my own very healthy, very fit babies (and it appears ironically that I still am!) until 'one of those things' caused me to lose most of an ovary and blocked my left tube - HOW has that had any impact on the genetics of my children??!! As my FS once put it, we had a road block and needed to get around it.

This sort of ignorance makes my blood boil!!!

Leasha - not going to shoot you down babe but I must admit I am surprised by your post.

[mollygirl1977]

Well, I spent the day calming down after reading the article and have just sent my comments to the Herald Sun and directly to Jill (thanks for the email address Baby dreamtime)

I have never, ever responded to a journalist before. I am completely outraged.

If the government really wants to save money then cut the baby bonus. But I find the whole issue of taking IVf off the safety net a complete contradiction to the baby bonus. On one hand they are saying we need to encourage population growth but at the same time taking away one of the means to do it ????

[buliej]

I know that many of you already know this, but the main reason (in my opinion) why this and other IVF (both pro- and con-) have been in the papers recently is because the government is considering excluding IVF from Medicare/the Safety Net or limiting Medicare for IVF. Please see this thread and write letters explaining why IVF should continue to receive Medicare support: https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...y-net-ivf.html

[nic]

It's absolute crapola - what about those of us with secondary infertility? I was quite capable of naturally conceiving my own very healthy, very fit babies (and it appears ironically that I still am!) until 'one of those things' caused me to lose most of an ovary and blocked my left tube - HOW has that had any impact on the genetics of my children??!! As my FS once put it, we had a road block and needed to get around it.

This sort of ignorance makes my blood boil!!!

Leasha - not going to shoot you down babe but I must admit I am surprised by your post.

Willow, Seems she has an opinion on secondary infertility! Shock horror!!

She is not empathetic to women suffering secondary infertility: ?If having a child doesn?t mitigate the loss of not having more, it should.?

I found that from the link here https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...ml#post1722283 - sara69, post #93.

After I read that, I think she doesn't deserve any more of my precious time. Funnily enough, my first reaction, from reading everyone else's reactions and thoughts, was that she sounded like she had wanted children (or more of them, since I now know she has a daughter) and had become a bitter person because of her journey? I wonder, if her partner/husband had wanted a child, and had they had to go the IVF path, would she now be writing a book singing the praises of science, IVF, and the women who dared to be part of the exciting IVF world as it took it's first steps?

Nic

[nicjay]

She is not empathetic to women suffering secondary infertility: ?If having a child doesn?t mitigate the loss of not having more, it should.?

Well she obviously hasn't ever experienced either secondary infertility or miscarriage has she? Otherwise she might have some idea of how isolating it can be.

I wouldn't give this sad, ignorant woman the satisfaction of knowing that she has gotten up my nose to be quite frank! She clearly has her own baggage from whatever has happened to her in the past, but as far as I'm concerned unless she has experienced it she should keep her opinions to herself

Also, I find it interesting that in her article she has chosen not to contrast the stats for premature births and perinatal mortality in IVF pregnancies with that of the average population. Maybe because there is not really a significant difference? Or maybe because the IVF group is a much smaller group than the average population and therefore shouldn't be compared?? After all its pretty easy to twist any stats to say what you want them to say when you are a journo

[Nurse27]

Can someone PLEASE tell me that this twit has not ProCreated herself! Someone this ignorant, uninformed and selfish shouldn't be left with the responsibility of another human life!

She has written a book called "Immaculate Conceptions", and according to the review on the Age website, she has had an abortion at age 20, and a daughter at age 23.

[paradise lost]

How is Darwin relevant anyway? Is she also going to suggest we abort all genetically damaged babies that were naturally concieved and leave all those who slip through the testing net or are injured at birth out in the bush to die and so rid ourselves of them? It is so low-brow-journo to compare a theory relating to millions of years of evolutionary development to 20 years of medical advance.

Never mind. SHe HAS to have a strong and offensive opinion, because lets face it, she's not going to get readers with an intelligent and thoughtful style.

Bx