Gospel Prism

Two things make me think about this post: first, life and death have been at the forefront of my mind since Brian’s death, and second, President Bush’s first ever veto of a bill that passed both houses of Congress concerning stem cell research.

Much has been made by the media about this veto. Many have lambasted the President on his position calling him as someone who opposes cures for those suffering from diabetes or Parkinson’s disease. Some have said that there are 400,000 frozen embryos that are being “wasted� and “destroyed� because of the President’s decision to withhold federal funding on embryonic stem cell research. If you watch television or listen to the radio, you can see commercials by Michael J. Fox or Christopher Reeve when he was alive or Mary Tyler Moore or even Nancy Reagan saying that they and their loved ones would be spared from the terrible diseases they face if only embryonic stem cell research were federally funded. Is this true? Why should Christians be opposed to such a thing when it can be so beneficial to human society as a whole?

Well, we should be opposed if we deem embryos to be people, and of course that is a tremendously critical point. If embryos are indeed created by God and knitted together, if they are truly fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139), then it would only make sense that they are children in God’s eyes. How can we think that experimentation on children is ever legitimate regardless of the benefit it would give to humanity? At that rate, we could eventually see the legitimating of research on any weaker segment of the population for the “common good� of the whole.

Second, there are many false assumptions in the stem cell debate that is continuously misrepresented by the mainstream media. It is a fallacy to think that only embryonic stem cells will work to bring new treatments for such diseases. To date, there are no current embryonic stem cell therapies being used on patients any where in the world (listen to Focus on the Family’s, July 20th program). President Bush’s veto only cuts off FEDERAL funding. But states (especially my own state of California), private industry, and countries around the world are heavily invested in experimenting on embryonic stem cell research and yet, it has not produced any viable treatment or even a viable trial to use embryonic stem cells. However, adult stem cell research is actually being used in treatments. The 400,000 embryos that will go to waste is a concoction of the media, trying to convince the public that these embryos should be used for the purpose of research. But most of those embryos are currently being stored by their parents for the possibility that they might be used to actually bring about life.

Finally, and here is some exciting news. When President Bush made his statement as to why he vetoed the bill for funding embryonic stem cell research, he was surrounded by all these babies and children. They were what are called “snowflake children� or “snowflake embryos.� These were embryos adopted by willing parents. Through the Nightlight Christian Adoption’s “Snowflake Program,� these embryos are now being adopted. Most people just never knew something like this was ever around.

Here’s a testimony from a genetic patient:

My husband and I participated in the Snowflake Program by donating the eight frozen embryos remaining from our fertility treatments. We’d spent over 10 years trying to start our family before our son was born. As a result of IVF treatments, we now have three children at home, a boy (9), and twin girls (7). Through Snowflake Program, we also have two healthy genetic children, a boy and a girl (twins), that are a few months old and being raised by their wonderful parents two time zones away.

At the birth of our daughters, one twin was 2 lbs and her sister was almost 6 lbs. Our smallest baby was in the NICU for over a month with various setbacks and when we brought her home, she weighed not quite three pounds. She had to be fed every other hour and once they removed the nasal gastric tube, it took about an hour to feed her. With another new baby and a toddler not quite two years old, this was exhausting duty. Being in our early 40s, we didn’t have the same energy that we did when we were in our 20s.

It was a few years before we considered what to do with the remaining embryos. I saw the remaining embryos as children so I felt my options were: 1) donating them outright with no say in the choice of parents or 2) making them available for adoption through the Snowflakes Program.

Doing nothing or donating the embryos for science was not an acceptable alternative for us. With eight embryos left, we faced the possibility of not just one more child but 2, 4 or more. We also considered that we would be in our late 60s when these genetic children would be in their teens and early 20s. We wanted the children to have younger parents whose values were similar to ours, so the Snowflake Program was the right choice. As we had been through the adoption process at an earlier time and knew what was involved—a home study, friends’ letters of recommendation, background checks, and legal documents—I knew the adoptive parents would be well screened by the Snowflakes Program.

We prepared our papers, assembled some pictures, and then sent them to Snowflakes. We waited for a few weeks for information about the prospective adoptive parents. It is hard to select parents, but we found a couple that had been married for seven years and were suffering with infertility. They were in their late 20s/early 30s, very loving, caring, and Christian.

The Snowflakes staff answered our questions and concerns about the couple. Were they both really committed to this adoption? Were they going to be able to handle it financially? Will they accept multiples? Did they have other support from friends and family? With the answers that Snowflakes provided, we were willing to proceed.

From first reading of the letter from the prospective adopting couple, signing of the adoption papers, and then learning that they were successfully expecting twins, I prayed a great deal.

I prayed for an uneventful pregnancy and that no harm would come to the mother or children. I prayed that the children would survive the thawing process, that the procedure would work the first time for the adoptive parents.

I prayed that the financial burden would not be too great for the adopting parents. All my prayers were answered. The children were born healthy, though a few weeks early, in July 2005. The parents sent us an email to let us know that everyone was healthy and happy and sent pictures as well.

Since then, I have received periodic updates, which I hadn’t expected at all. I had written into our adoption papers that I wanted the children to be baptized and that we be advised when this took place. I asked the staff at Snowflakes if they knew whether anything was planned. They gently asked the parents about it at my request. I ended up flying out to California and meeting the parents and the babies. A Snowflake counselor joined us for lunch. Despite apprehension on my side, and probably theirs too, it went very well.

The next night, the parents held a special baptism service at their home church which normally baptizes young adults, not babies. It was attended by their closest friends, family and me and had special music and a slide show of the babies. The new parents went to an extraordinary effort and I will never forget their generous kindness, warm hugs, and thankfulness.

When we signed the adoption papers, I never thought that I’d see the faces of these children. Now I have and that in itself is a tremendous blessing. I am comforted, knowing that they are in a loving home.

I trust God and their parents to raise them as best they can. We are trying to do the best we can with the children entrusted to us.

With such programs around and awareness growing, that 400,000 number will hopefully dissipate. 60 Minutes did a special on the subject and in interviewing Professor Robert George (you can read his article entitled, “Embryonic Human Beings�) he makes it quite clear what are the implications for following this path of embryo destruction:

After agonizing for 13 years, the Madsens finally made their decision: their four embryos are going to stem-cell research. But George doesn’t think couples like the Madsen’s should even have the right to make that decision.

“This is a decision that we as a community have to make. It can’t be left to individual choice to decide,” he says.

“Why not? Why not leave it to individual choice when it comes to an embryo? Why isn’t that a religious decision for the couples to make?” Stahl asks.

“It’s certainly not a religious decision anymore than infanticide is a religious decision,” George says. “You can find ancient cultures whose religions authorized infanticide. But that didn’t make it right. And that doesn’t mean that we should accept it.”

Let’s hope we never get close to that!