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The American Fertility Association Blog
Babouche
March 26, 2009 - Thursday
Posted by Corey
If you and I were sightseeing in sun drenched Morocco, we would probably want to slip on a pair of babouche while we were walking around - the ornate, beautiful, but ultimately amazingly comfortable slippers which are the footwear of choice in that region. Sometimes babouche are adorned with jewels, sometimes extravagantly embroidered, but always feel like a second skin.
So about a week ago I found myself traipsing through Park Slope, feeling like a tourist, looking for the perfect spot to hold The AFA’s first Learn & Dine dinner feast. This one will feature Dr. Richard Grazi as our guest speaker, so I knew I had to get it just right! There are no accidents - at the very second I was craving my own babouche (pale leather with pink shiny stones, worn to death) I noticed Babouche Restaurant & Lounge on Fifth Avenue. I know you won’t believe me but it’s true! There it was. I couldn’t believe it and of course, I went inside.
I was hooked immediately. The atmosphere was exotic, romantic, and soft. Just where I would want to welcome the most important guests in the world. The men and women who are having trouble starting a family, who call The AFA everyday, and who need a little help figuring it all out. This was just the place to make them feel welcomed, safe, and hopeful. I knew that sitting around a table, or on a soft couch in our private dining room, and having an easy back and forth conversation with Dr. Grazi would be, if you will excuse me, just what the doctor ordered.
So I made dinner reservations for a big, hopeful crowd, breathed a sigh of relief, went home to my pj’s and babouche, and decided to write this note to all of you.
For those of you who are interested in treatment options that make sense for you, your body, and your diagnosis, consider yourself invited to join The AFA staff and Dr. Richard Grazi of Genesis Fertility and Reproductive Medicine for a complimentary dinner at Babouche Restaurant & Lounge on Monday night, April 27th, at 6:30 p.m.
This event is open to singles, couples, and bff’s, gay or straight, and is completely free but reservations are a must.
So call me to rsvp. (718) 853-1411. We look forward to sitting down with you for about an hour, and helping you get the info you need to either get you started on your treatment, to learn a little, or to make changes that make sense.
Until then,
Corey Whelan, Director of Development
Categories
Family Building •
Fertility •
Infertility
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Facing Change
March 16, 2009 - Monday
Posted by Ken
Last year I wrote an article addressing how issues surrounding the topic of infertility would only become more intense in the coming year. What I didn’t realize is the degree to which the infertility conversation would enter mainstream media, and how quickly.
Thus far in 2009, the topic of infertility is everywhere. Whether it’s the mother of eight babies in California or a 60 (plus) year-old woman becoming pregnant through in-vitro fertilization (IVF), infertility has become part of most people’s daily listening and reading, if not daily conversation.
As I write this in mid-March, I’m wondering what’s going to happen this week when the Georgia State Senate considers a “personhood” bill, which defines life at the moment of conception and ascribes all human rights to the embryo from that point forward. The bill would make anyone who damages or destroys an embryo criminally liable, subject to both fines and imprisonment. It would further forbid any disposition of unused embryos except the option to donate them to another couple, (and they do mean married, heterosexual couples). The option to freeze embryos for use at a later date, donate them to scientific research, or dispose of them would be illegal if this bill becomes law.
There are several other bills floating around state legislatures right now. Many are designed to dictate to physicians and patients having difficulty conceiving how many embryos they can create, how many they may transfer, and what the disposition of any unused embryos must be.
New questions are being raised about the use of sperm taken posthumously from a male for the purpose of continuing a family line or ensuring inheritance. Who has the final say in these matters?
Egg freezing is emerging as the most asked about fertility topic of the year. Women and men want to know if eggs can be frozen for use at a later date, similar to what is currently being practiced with unused embryos. If so, what’s the success rate? Is this something we should be encouraging? Are there risks? What are they?
Egg freezing, taking sperm from dead men, legislators dictating what physicians and patients can and can’t do, and the very real possibility of microscopic tissue being called a “child” are just some of the issues The American Fertility Association (The AFA) is helping consumers sort through as they begin or find themselves in the midst of their family building journeys.
7.3 million American women experience difficulty conceiving or bringing a pregnancy to term. Fertility challenges among men may be just as high, as male factor infertility is the sole or contributing cause in about 40% of infertile couples. We are, indeed, faced with a significant challenge.
In addition to providing education and support for those facing fertility challenges, this year, The AFA began an infertility prevention program in which we take education to young women at places they already frequent - like nail salons and health clubs.
Why? There are types of infertility that can be prevented. Avoiding environmental toxins, taking into account the biological clock (fertility begins to decline at age 27 for women and 35 for men) and preventing STD’s are all things that can keep options open for individuals and couples if and when they decide to have children. As everyone knows, prevention, when possible, is the best cure.
Our mission is simple: prevent infertility whenever possible and support people in building families of choice. To learn more, visit us at http://www.theafa.org.
The American Fertility Association, a 501 (c) (3) national non-profit organization is a lifetime resource for infertility prevention, reproductive health and family building. AFA services and materials are provided free of charge to consumers and available to everyone without reservation. These services include an extensive online library, monthly online chats, telephone and in-person coaching, a resource directory, hosted message boards, daily fertility news and a toll-free support line.
http://www.theafa.org or 888.917.3777.
Ken Mosesian
Executive Director
Categories
Donor Egg •
Donor Sperm •
Egg Donation •
Egg Freezing •
Embryo Donation •
Family Building •
Fertility •
Fertility Preservation •
Frozen Embryos •
Frozen Sperm •
Infertility •
IVF •
Reproductive Freedom •
Sexual Health •
Sperm Donation •
Third Party Reproduction
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“Luck: where hard work meets opportunity”
March 16, 2009 - Monday
Posted by Lisa
All apologies for having not taken the time to write for The AFA these past few weeks, but I suppose I will catch you up with what all is going on with the average high school senior this time of year. The major burden has been lifted from the majority of our shoulders - that being college admission. For the past two months, seniors all across the nation have checked their several e-mail accounts, and old fashioned mail boxes with hopes of finding the “big” envelope (let it be known the “big” envelope includes a letter beginning: “We are pleased to inform you that…”). As for most of my friends, we all have a pretty good idea of where we will this time next year. I applied, as I mentioned in an earlier post, and recently was accepted to the University of North Carolina, my long time best friend and neighbor is packing his bags for UNC Charlotte, and my girlfriend will be attending East Carolina University.
For all three of us, and millions of other seniors across the nation, the path has been laid for success, but it’s what we as students make of these “roads” or opportunities rather, that will render us successful. I’m not one to believe some people just have all the luck in the world - earning the best jobs with the to-die-for 100K plus salary. Undoubtedly, some are more fortunate than others, but luck, as I understand it, is where hard work meets opportunity, and I believe that is the mind set I, as well every other student, needs to have going into college.
I want to make a difference with whatever line of work I go into. If I go into journalism, I want to report the best stories, as best I can. Or if I go into engineering, I want to make the best and most efficient structures as best I can. However, the only way I, or anybody else can do his or her “best,” is by taking advantage of this road that is before us - college. College serves as a tool for success, not a ticket to success. But for us seniors, the most exciting and most important times of our lives are before us. Let’s see what we make of it.
Thanks for your time once again,
John Taylor
Categories
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Have We Pushed the Envelope Too Far?
March 5, 2009 - Thursday
Posted by admin
At a conference at Barnard College in New York City on February 28th entitled, The Politics of Reproduction: New Technologies of Life, a group of feminist scholars asked the same question regarding reproductive technologies and, perhaps surprisingly, suggested that personal reproductive choices may now need to be limited. If you read the many recent news articles about Nadya Suleman (the “Octomom”), 60+ year olds conceiving and conceiving multiples, at that, and doctors offering preimplantation genetic diagnosis for parents wanting to select for sex, eye color, and hair color of their offspring, it is no wonder that the world is reacting with incredulity to the lengths to which both patients and doctors in reproductive medicine have gone and potentially will go. The infertile are being labeled selfish, self-centered, unfair to their progeny, crazy, psycho, and worse. The doctors are being labeled greedy and unconcerned with the potential damage they may inflict on patients or offspring they help to create.
But, for those of us who were around before 1973 (Roe v. Wade), we remember a time when women’s reproductive choices were significantly restricted by laws. Do we really want limits placed upon reproductive autonomy? What limits would we all, or even the majority of Americans, agree upon? Who will we call upon to set these limits? Do we want the government, doctors, lawyers, ethicists, mental health professionals, religious leaders… to determine available reproductive options for women? Religious extremists lurk, just waiting for the opportunity to prohibit first abortion, then perhaps birth control and possibly IVF. On the other hand, should patients be allowed to dictate what their doctors will do even if they, the patients, are willing to accept inordinate risk to themselves or the children they hope to create?
There is a difference between conceiving on one’s own and requiring medical intervention with the use of limited medical resources in order to conceive. Yet, do we want the government to tell us what we can do in these very private reproductive matters? Other countries have done just that, with restrictions placed on the number of embryos that can be transferred, i.e., 1-2, health care coverage for IVF but with age restrictions, and no payment beyond expenses allowed to egg, sperm, or embryo donors to reduce charges of commodification of the reproductive process or product.
In the United States, these decisions would be determined on a state by state basis, at least initially. Here’s a sample of decisions already made or in the making: Louisiana requires implantation of all embryos created by IVF. Embryos are not considered the property of the gamete providers, IVF physicians or the clinic. If a safe number of embryos are planned for transfer and more remain, the couple can relinquish parental rights prior to implantation and the embryo(s) must be made available for embryo “adoption”. Net result: physicians may be afraid to offer basic IVF to couples because of the possibility of future prosecution for not implanting all created embryos because of potential risk(s) to the woman who does not wish to relinquish her embryos for adoption. As I write this, the Georgia State Senate is planning a hearing on two proposed bills, SB 169 which would allow: only two or three eggs to be fertilized per IVF cycle with additional eggs not being allowed to be used,; only two embryos transferred per cycle unless a woman is age 40 or over; no cryopreservation of extra embryos (thus all embryos would have to be transferred, so keeping them within the limit of two means not fertilizing additional embryos and possibly not obtaining high quality embryos); no financial compensation for egg, sperm, or embryo donors; and SB 204 which is an embryo adoption bill, requiring the same provisions for embryo donation as for the adoption of a child, including judicial hearings, home visits, etc. Do others hear the footsteps of organized religion creeping in??
• We do need additional high quality long-term medical research on the safety for both women and offspring of the ARTs.
• The well-conceived (no pun intended) guidelines and policies developed by The American Society for Reproductive Medicine must hold weight with the reproductive endocrinologists and others working in the field of reproductive medicine and somehow need to be professionally enforced. If this doesn’t happen, legal regulation is sure to follow.
• Infertility patients need to be made aware of these guidelines and their rationale in advance of agreeing to undergo treatment. While these guidelines are developed by interdisciplinary committees of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, with concerns for patient safety, health of the potential babies that are created, and both patient and physician autonomy, input from representatives of the infertile community would be useful, as well.
From a psychological perspective, it is often quite difficult for prospective infertile parents to think about the potential short- and long-term ramifications of their reproductive choices since it feels too risky and is too scary for them to be optimistic enough to actually believe that they will become pregnant. However, fortunately, many do get pregnant through ART. Thus, patients must carefully consider the risks that they are exposing themselves and their potential child(ren) to by their choices.
The science behind infertility treatment has been truly amazing and has been responsible for offering so many options that were not available to those experiencing infertility even 40 years ago. Physicians need to refuse to perform procedures that go against their professional guidelines because they are deemed too unsafe for their patients or the potential offspring they help to create. Yet, patients must be responsible, as well.
The recent media frenzy about assisted reproductive technologies has brought reproductive choices back into more general public discussion. Let’s bring those actually experiencing infertility into the discussion regarding policy and regulation, as well. So, what do you think? I’d love to hear your comments.
Best,
Joann Paley Galst, Ph.D.
Chair, AFA Mental Health Advisory Council and Co-Director of AFA Support Services
30 E. 60th Street, Suite 802
New York, NY 10022
212-759-2783
[email protected]
Categories
Family Building •
Infertility •
Reproductive Technologies
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Thank You
March 2, 2009 - Monday
Posted by admin
I just wanted you to know how much a tremendous help that Lisa was to me in midst of very challenging circumstances - when I had no one else to turn to. She should be recognized for the impact that she makes on peoples lives - I am thankful to Lisa and the AFA organization for your continuous support and help. I have been going through a lot of hard times over the past year 11/2 year including being unable to find suitable employment and being unable to get pregnant due to unexplained infertility. Below are the details of my situation…
My road to getting pregnant has been especially challenging, but Lisa has been such a blessing…I feel it is important that you know how genuinely caring, kind, helpful that Lisa was with me…The first time I called her in September 08 I was in tears…On a last minute basis, she went out of her way to arrange a scholarship so that I can attend the AFA Conference (unemployed +11/2 years). It was a blessing that I was able to attend the AFA conference…Words can not express my gratititude for how important that conference is to women like me.
Last week, I spent several hours crying with no one clear understanding of what was happening to me from doing IVF for the first time…Rare things like Multiple cysts/fibroid developing while on Lupron with rising Estrogen levels… I started calling other infertility clinics—no doctor or nurse was willing to speak with me or see me for a second opinion ..I was a mess..My last phone call was to Lisa—she truly lifted me out of the gutter.
It was through her that I became aware of Ask the Expert forum…I was having several tech. difficulties -she walked me through how to use it and was so kind despite my calling her several time for help. Dr Martin was so kind to respond to all my questions that I posted online while my own doctors neglected to return my calls on a timely basis in midst of my despair of not knowing what was happening to me. .She further gave me the name of another doctor who would be willing to see me for a second opinion
Lisa is truly a tremendous asset to the AFA—I am so grateful to her as well as the AFA for your help and support…Thank you for making such a difference in my life.
Categories
Infertility
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