I’ve had a lot of conversations with a lot of pro-life activists about their feelings on abortion, contraception, and pregnancy. I feel like I’m fairly well-versed in the pro-life position at this point, but one belief has remained a mystery to me: Why are pro-lifers against In Vitro Fertalization?

Thankfully, octuplet mom Nadya Suleman has swooped onto the national scene to answer my call!

And I thought it was just a general distaste for science. Turns out, in IVF, it’s not uncommon for a larger number of eggs to be removed from the mother than are meant to be stuffed back in her. Some eggs don’t take to fertalization when put in the little swimmy dish with the sperm; those are discarded.

But six of Suleman’s eggs found some sperm they loved very much, and they all developed into embryos, and at that point—-hey—-wouldn’t it be almost kind of like an abortion to throw those good embryos away?

In a Dateline interview, Suleman said, “Those are my children and that’s what was available and I used them. So I took a risk. It’s a gamble. It always is.” But at least it’s not abortion.

And so, Suleman—-against the advice of the medical community and everyone else in the entire world—-had all six embryos implanted in her room, got two little extra surprises, and now has eight octuplets to add to her already ample brood. Like magic!

That’s pro-life In Vitro for you; I can see why most pro-lifers might just advocate for calling the whole thing off.

Photo by ScottD_Arch