Fertility Drugs
...es from urofollitropin. The most serious effect from using any of the above mentioned fertility drugs is the high risk of multiple births, and with clomiphene, there is a chance of birth defects if it is taken after a woman becomes pregnant. There is an increasing number of multiple births due to fertility drugs, as I previously mentioned. Kate White(1998) claims "Twin births rose by 65% between 1973 and 1990 due to the increased use of fertility drugs and treatment" (p. 14). White also says "The birth rate of triplets, quads, and quints increased 221% and today, one -third of twins, three-fourths of triplets, and nearly all quads are the result of infertility treatment" (p. 14). Multiple births allow for greater risk of premature babies. The result of a premature baby can be permanent disability or something worse. Pregnancy usually already involves problems, and some things could go wrong. With multiple births, the risk of things going wrong is far more greater. Women know this great risk of multiple births before taking fertility drugs,but they are so desperate to conceive that they don't really weigh all the responsibilities of multiples. They have the choice of selective multifetal reduction, which is aborting some of the fetuses. This is only an option to women who are pregnant with quadruplets or more. Some women just can't go through with aborting any of the fetuses and usually go through with all fetuses. Most women who do decide to abort some of the fetuses have emotional problems and prolonged guilt and sadness. Knowing all of this, why do most doctors still seem to encourage fertility drugs? It seems that couples today are very determined to conceive due to pressure from society making them feel that they are not "normal" if they do not conceive. Doctors are feeding on this determination and encouraging fertility drugs, knowing the money they can make from it. In her article, Sharon Begley quoted medical ethicist Michelle Oberman saying "When you make your money off of couples who say 'Do what is possible', there's quite an incentive to encourage patients to do more; the whole system is based on trying and experimenting" (p. 38). Some doctors are giving women fertility drugs after they are only considered infertile for two months. If the doctors are making money from giving a woman fertility drugs, even if she may not really need them, they are going to give them to her. If the number of people who go to doctors claiming to be infertile and requesting fertility drugs increases, then the number of people using fertility drugs will also increase. This is due to the fact that doctors seem to be starting to prescribe fertility drugs to whoever says they need them. As long as there is an increase in infertility, people are going to be determined to conceive. As long as people are determined to conceive, fertility drugs will be more available, even with some unsafe side effects. As long as one of the major effects of fertility drugs is multiple births, the number of multiple births is going to increase, along with an increased number of premature babies and disabilities of these children. As long as all of this is considered a technological advancement and doctors are making money off of it, fertility drugs will remain a trend in our society. Bobbi McCaughy, the woman in Iowa that gave birth to septuplets, said it was an act of God that she had seven babies. I wonder if Mrs. McCaughy and her husband thought about the birth defects and handicaps that their children may grow up with and have to live with for the rest of their life. I wonder if they thought about what they would do if just maybe the people in their home town weren't so nice as to volunteer their time helping take care of the babies. I wonder if they considered how their 3 year old toddler would adapt to seven brothers and sisters at the same time. I wonder if they considered if they could give equal and adequate attention to all of their children, not attention from strangers. Why did the McCaughey's feel such a need to conceive? Why do couples in general feel such a need to conceive. Why are couples and doctors not taking the precautions and results of multiple births more seriously? There needs to be more control over the use of fertility drugs. Couples seem so caught up in the possibility of conceiving and using fertility treatments that they seem to forget to consider everything involved in taking care of a baby, or babies. Let us first consider reasons why couples are so determined to conceive. In the beginning of the century and in the 1800's people had children for such reasons as carrying on the family name, taking over the family business, and for doing the chores. Today people have children to feel completeness and have a sense of pride. This is due to the standards society sets on couples. These standards cause a couple to feel pressured or less confident about themselves and their relationship. Society starts; putting pressure on couples by asking if they have children and if they don't, why not? Mothers and other family members put a lot of pressure on couples by telling them they want grandchildren or that they should start a family of their own. That is what they have known to be "normal" for couples to do through their history. Society makes such a big fuss over babies and how precious they are. If a woman who hasn't conceived hears someone say "You never can truly appreciate children until you have went through child birth," she is going to remember that and ponder that thought over and over again. On television shows, movies, and real life, a new baby coming into the family shows such joyous times for everyone and it is made into a big deal. This is putting pressure on couples. They are thinking "When can I have a baby and provide that joy for everyone." Society makes people feel as if you are not "normal" if you don't have children. They do this by stressing how natural and wonderful childbirth is. Those who can not conceive wonder why, if it is so natural, can't they have a baby. They begin thinking there is something wrong with them, they are not like everyone else, they are not "normal". People also feel the need to conceive to have the bonding experience with the spouse. To have created something, a human being, from the both of them makes them feel like they really belong together. Sometimes couples feel that if they don't have what it takes to make a baby together, then maybe they aren't meant to be together. This puts pressure on a couple to want to conceive. Because many women are waiting longer to try to conceive due to careers, their chance for infertility is greater because fertility decreases with age and time. Because of the need of these women to feel "normal", there will be an increase in the use of fertility drugs. This theory about wanting to conceive to feel "normal" and to have a bonding experience with the spouse doesn't explain the need for fertility drugs in couples who already have children, like the McCaughey's. However, pressure from society does seem to fit. Pressure from people asking when you are going to give your child a brother or sister. The whole idea of the great American family consisting of a mother, father, and two children, usually a boy and a girl, could make couples feel pressure and the feeling of not being like everyone else. Also, the satisfied feeling a couple felt so much after their first child could make them want to do it again. This is because any event or behavior followed by a satisfied feeling tends to happen again. The precautions and results of multiple births need to be taken more seriously. I found that many couples that are trying so desperately to conceive say they feel a lot of stress. If they don't think they are "normal" and can't be like their friends, of course they will feel stress. They question their self-image and self-worth and their roles in society as a male or female. Some claim they have a disrupted sex life, their social contacts and extended family may be affected and treatments are demanding and time-consuming. What I really don't understand about all of this is, how do they think their sex life is going to be after having a baby, maybe three or four babies? Do they think they are going to have time or feel like having sex? Do they think their social contacts and extended family won't be affected anymore? When are they going to have time for any social activity besides maybe having people help you change diapers and feed babies? They won't have barely a few hours per week for them self, and they think treatments are time consuming. Couples are so interested in getting their own needs met, conceiving and feeling "normal", that their reality seems distorted. As long as they have a baby, usually babies, they are not really worried about how they are going to take care of them. Most people are no longer financially stable after using fertility drugs and after having multiples, so usually the father is working two jobs or double shifts just to pay off medical bills. So, if dad is hardly ever around, are the kids getting the love and nurturing they need from both parents? If dad's not there, of course they're not. Most couples after having multiples no longer have time for each other and the marriage begins to fall apart or there is more arguing, they are not as happy. This is not good for the children to go through, even if they are babies. Multiples are likely to have or develop later physical and/or mental problems. Let me recap some of this information. We have a couple who wants a baby so bad, probably due to the feeling that they don't fit into society if they don't have a baby, that they use fertility drugs and treatments. They find this to be stressful and time consuming. If only they could conceive, things would be better. If they conceive, and lets say they have twins, they are now financially unstable. The father is working two jobs or double shifts and is usually never there. The mother is probably tired of being in the house all day taking care of the babies. The husband and wife are not getting along and the kids have physical problems that need special attention. Now this sounds stressful. The couple's life was probably more "normal" before they brought two babies into the world and now the family is falling apart. People need to be more educated on what multiple-birth parenting involves before they even take the fertility drugs. They need to think about the future not just the present. They need to consider possible birth defects that the child will have to live with for the rest of their life. They have to consider the strain it will put on a marriage and the financial burden it will cause. A lot of people say they wait to conceive so that they can provide the best possible life for their children. In this situation, it doesn't sound all that wonderful. Couples need to consider everything possible before taking fertility drugs. If they want to fit into society so much by having a baby, they should also consider their child's need to feel like that when they get older. If that child is disabled, they will probably be teased. They are not going to fit into society easily. Couples need to consider this, not just their own needs. They also need to consider how emotionally devastating it will be for them to have multiple births and have one, some, or all of them die, which is a possibility. Now that we understand the reasons for couple's determination to conceive, let's look at how the doctors deal with infertile couples. As discussed earlier in the paper, there are...