AmericanPapist Comments
Do you think that the NEED for egg donations has increased due to the years many of the 30-someting women have been on the pill? No one talks about how artificial/hormonal birth control has destroyed a woman's natural ability to have a baby. Too much money is at stake. In the past 10 years I have been astounded at the number of youngish women I work with who are undergoing fertility treatments as they seem to have great difficulty getting pregnant. I think it is a combination of putting off pregnancy until they are in their 30's and the consequences of the long years of being on the pill. At that point 12 to 15 years for some women.
Gives an interesting twist to the old saying, One of every four babies born is Asian.
The eggs aren't being donated, they are being sold. I can't imagine any woman going through the misery associated with egg harvesting if she wasn't going to be financially reimbursed.
When this kind of hysteria is flagged, as it frequently is these days, we should remember one thing: When someone says that there aren't going to be enough people in the near future, what they generally mean is that there are not going to be enough _white_ people. Personally, I don't care what colour we turn out to be; I'm confident that there are, in fact, plenty of people on the planet, and will be for some time to come. So, if you do want Europeans to thrive, by all means (if you are European or of European descent), reproduce at a great rate. If that's not on your agenda, do relax.
And whatever unpleasant one can say about the Pill, it cannot be blamed for low fertility rates. That's simply silly. Delaying childbearing, along with a host of environmental issues (but mostly the former), is the culprit there. It's really not that complex.
Mrs. P,
Who in this is talking about not enough white people?????
Where is your proof that the pill has nothing to do with low fertility rates? I would like to see some studies done to show the MYRIAD of reasons why fertility rates are down. If you can show me a study that says the pill has nothing to do with it.....a study not funded by the pharmaceutical companies...I would be glad to read it.
I don't know if narcissism and birth control are necessarily the primary reasons that women are waiting until their 30s to bear a child.
US statistics show that in 1900, the average age of a woman at the time of marriage was 22 years; in 2000, it was 25.1 years. In European countries, it is even later - currently 30 for women in Sweden. For comparison, the current average age of women at marriage in Mexico is 18.4. (These numbers can be downloaded from various www.statistics.gov sites.) Therefore, if we abide by chastity before marriage, the window for having a child prior to age 30 has shrunk in developed countries.
Of course, that does beg the question of why the marriage age is increasing. I suspect that economics plays a big role, but it is more a matter of survival than luxury. Many good jobs require a college education, and so marriage is often postponed until after undergraduate or graduate education is complete. For those without a college education, it can be difficult to live (let alone raise a family) on a minimum wage job. Also, women have more options to lead a productive single life than in 1900, so there is less pressure to marry the first guy who asks if the fit is not a good one.
Once a woman does get married, not everyone is immediately successful with conception - and for reasons other than years of taking birth control. My husband and I were unsuccessful for 7 years due to a variety of factors that have nothing to do with birth control.
As a pregnant woman, I have also discovered the challenges of a lack of maternity leave policy and supervisors who have done everything possible to hinder my ability to take time off to give birth. Therefore, many of the roadblocks indicated in the article by the Rabbi have held true for me, and for many of my colleagues and friends.
I am a working woman in a professional setting, but my husband and I weren't flitting around the world dropping big bucks on jewels, vacations and gourmet food as a childless couple. I would have been thrilled to have multiple children, but after 7 years of failed conception followed by 2 miscarriages, it seems that God has other plans for me. Yes, I have met those young adults who are selfish and self-absorbed; I have met parents of many ages who are equally selfish and self-absorbed and who do not give their children a loving family life. But I have found those people (at least in my circle of acquaintances) to be the exception rather than the rule. Perhaps it is different in Europe, but since Illinois was cited as the center for egg donation, it seems that you are condemning American women/young couples too.
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