It took one woman to give birth to 14 babies to finally draw America's attention to the unethical and unregulated practices of fertility clinics. According to reports, Dr. Kamrava implanted six embryos into Nadya Suleman for each of her six pregnancies. During her first four pregnancies, Nadya gave birth to a single baby, twins in her fifth pregnancy, and in her last pregnancy, the six implanted embryos multiplied, resulting in eight live births. Neither Dr. Kamrava nor Nadya expected the multiple births. Nadya is one of the few patients under the care of Dr. Kamrava to achieve a successful pregnancy. The CDC Fertility Clinic Report shows Dr. Kamrava with a 10 percent success rate, compared to national statistics of 38.7 percent of achieving a live birth with InVitro Fertilization (IVF).
Put aside the question of poor judgment by Nadya or Dr. Kamrava. One fact jumps out from the many articles and news stories about "Octo-Mom": the unconscionable high failure rates of infertility clinics. With the "help" of IVF, Nadya lost 28 embryos. Given her prior history of miscarriages before IVF, Nadya is a mother of more than 30 unborn children who didn't live, and a mother of 14 children who were born. This is staggering, beyond the ability for mothers--and fathers-- to comprehend or deal with emotionally, physically or intellectually.
A woman who experiences a miscarriage often suffers grief over the loss of her child. Multiple miscarriages causes almost unbearable sorrow for mothers and couples. What then, does IVF do to mothers and fathers? It imposes unnatural burdens upon them and their precious children conceived. Imagine the woman or the couple permitting a doctor to create their children in a petrie dish, knowing that many of their children will not be born alive. This is not a loving act of a mother or a father. The only possible way for a mother or father to consent to such an act is for them to dehumanize their conceived children. IVF clinics offer these couples a consolation, however, by suggesting that their "spare" embryos may achieve "immortality" as breeding lines for embryonic stem cell research. Nadya did not find that comforting. She refused selective abortion, discarding her embryos, or having them experimented upon before being destroyed.
In the United Kingdom, more than 2.1 million spare embryos were created between 1991 to 2005, for the success of 109,469 live births. In the United States it is necessary to create 16.9 living embryos for one live birth.
Had Nadya met Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers six years ago instead of IVF Dr. Kamrava, it is very likely she would not be dealing with the problem of raising 14 children today. Dr. Hilgers is the founder of a new women's health science, NaProTechnology. NaProTechnology is (38.4%-81.8%) successful in helping couples to achieve a pregnancy. It focuses on the underlying conditions that cause infertility, unlike IVF that doesn't care what the underlying problems are. In fact, Nadya's very public dilemma is causing some nervousness among IVF doctors. They worry couples may choose less invasive methods that restores natural fertility.
NaProTechnology relies on a natural act of intercourse to achieve a pregnancy. It is less expensive, has a lower incidence of multiple births and lower prematurity rates. If Dr. Hilgers had helped Nadya, she and her husband may never have divorced. Higher divorce rates are associated with couples who undergo IVF procedures. With NaProTechnology, Nadya's infertility/miscarriages would have been properly evaluated. She and her husband probably would have had pregnancies, naturally. One baby at a time.
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