Bravo Joan!

I think you have expressed the opinion of many who could not find the 
words;  and I do understand
it was not easy.  I would like to add that if "artificially inseminated 
eggs that are frozen with no possibility
of ever becoming life" can contribute in any way to saving lives, they 
can have a higher purpose and
perhaps a slice of life after all.

Nancy P.

On May 27, 2005, at 5:18 AM, Joan Snyder wrote:

>  I have been torn in two by the embryonic stem cell debate. I have
> found myself waffling and playing the devil’s advocate…rather than
> making a decision and sticking by that position. I think that I have
> finally come to a realization that this is something that I must 
> finally
> take a stand on just to help me maintain some balance.
>
> First let me tell you that I am pro-life and that it really bothers me
> to hear the words “pro-abortion” come out of anyone’s mouth. I do not
> for a moment believe that anyone on this earth would go on record as an
> abortion advocate. I have known too many young women who have been 
> faced
> with this overwhelming decision and I can tell you that not one of them
> who went ahead with the abortion, in any way ever experienced anything
> but guilt and remorse-I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone
> would think of this agonizing situation as nice or even pleasant.
>
> Now that I have made that statement, I also resent the image of 
> in-vitro
> fertilized eggs as “frozen orphanages”- these are eggs that have been
> artificially inseminated in a petrie dish and are left-overs that will
> never make it to a mother’s warm and nourishing womb.
>
> And what I resent most of all is being made to feel like I am in a
> position such as that faced by Sophie in “Sophie’s Choice.” That movie
> has long haunted me, and kept me up many a night wondering how I would
> have reacted to the Nazi that ordered her to make an “on the spot”
> decision as to which of my children would be killed and which one would
> survive.
>
> I have felt that struggle inside of me for years now-of trying to
> resolve the dilemma that I faced: who would I choose??-my dear friends
> who have Parkinson’s and who are getting worse before my eyes and
> recently, beginning to die off one by one or the batches of faceless,
> invisible to the human eye, clumps of cells that bear no resemblance to
> a human being.
>
> I do not believe that a Loving and Caring God would put me into a
> terrible situation where I would have to choose one or the other and I
> believe that I have found the words that will help me to live with my
> decision. Pope John Paul II said that we must respect life from the 
> womb
> to the tomb…I take that to mean from the natural beginning of life 
> until
> its’ end. And I do not believe that a byoclast artificially begun in a
> dish and never destined to be transferred to the mother’s womb is life.
> Sure it is the potential for life but so are eggs and sperm that are
> washed away in our sheets daily. I can now say that I believe that life
> is life and artificially inseminated eggs that are frozen with no
> possibility of ever being implanted into a woman’s womb are just
> artificially inseminated eggs that are frozen with no possibility of
> ever becoming life. I truly hope that this will finally give me some
> sort of peace from this indecision that is just making me sicker.
>
> --
> Joan Blessington Snyder   54/14
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.pwnkle.com/jes/jes_web/index.htm
> “Hang tough……..no way through it but to do it.”
> Chris in the Morning      Northern Exposure
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: 
> mailto:[log in to unmask]
> In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn
>

----------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn