Letters to the Editor: The ‘embryo is a person’ pontificators have no clue on fertility treatment

To the editor: It’s disturbing when people pass laws on issues they don’t understand. With fertility treatment in particular, there is so much you can’t know unless you experience it. (“‘What is this, “The Handmaid’s Tale”?’ Exploring moral questions posed by controversial IVF ruling,” Feb. 27)

Two decades ago, my husband and I had 12 frozen embryos. One reason people acquire so many eggs during retrieval is to increase the odds of an embryo becoming an actual child.

Due to past losses, our doctor, an expert in the field, suggested we thaw all our frozen embryos for pre-genetic testing and implant only the “viable” ones — in other words, those with the best chance of becoming a person.

Of 12 frozen embryos, only two were viable. The other 10 either had no genetic material or had chromosomal abnormalities.

So, were we murderers of 10 globs of cells that were not living and never had a chance at life? I don’t think so. And, by the way, the two viable embryos that were implanted did not make it to become live persons either, unfortunately.

So the pontificators declaring embryos to be children need to better understand the reality of what a frozen embryo is, and its real chances of becoming a person, before making policy.

Kathi Weiner, Dana Point

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To the editor: In his letter to the editor, Dr. W. Benson Harer Jr. asks if treating a potentially deadly ectopic pregnancy amounts to murder. He may be unfamiliar with the principle of “double effect,” as promulgated by Thomas Aquinas, the Catholic philosopher.

The purpose of terminating a fallopian tube pregnancy is to save the mother’s life; it’s not to kill the child. There is no malice in the act, and the purpose is a good one — to save a life.

Alex Lozano, North Fort Myers, Fla.