Saturday, October 18, 2014

Embryo reduction


One of the main reasons my husband and I have chosen (four times!) to do only a transfer of a single embryo is because we do not want to have twins.  And I obviously spent a significant amount of time yesterday going on and on about how risky twin pregnancies can be.  But if we ultimately do end up pregnant with twins, we would be very happy and we would make it work.
Many people undergoing fertility treatments welcome—or even want—twins.  But a very, very small number of people who use fertility treatments and get pregnant with twins choose to reduce the twin pregnancies to single pregnancies (ie. selectively abort one of the fetuses).  See a NY Times article on the subject:
I’m pro choice.  But there is something uncomfortable about going through all of this, purposefully getting pregnant, and terminating one half of a generally healthy twin pregnancy.*  Nevertheless, I can’t judge a person’s choice to reduce a twin pregnancy to a single pregnancy.  It is not the choice I think I would make for myself, but I’ve never been in that position.  And even if I were, and I made the choice to keep both (which I think I would), it’s not my job to tell other people how to live their lives. 
But for people—like us!—who do not twins, single embryo transfer is an option, and one I hope more and more potential IVF parents consider.  On that note, here’s a link to an article in support of selective single embryo transfer (from a success perspective and a financial perspective):
*I can completely understand reducing higher order pregnancies, as they are so very dangerous to the babies and mom.

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