Using Science To Get Pregnant Doesn’t Doom Your Child To Hell

Pregnant women are fascinating to some people, and they don’t mind saying the darndest things to a woman carrying a watermelon under her shirt. When I told people I was having twins thanks to the help of modern science, some comments went from borderline rude to downright hateful. Instead of being told I was blessed, some said my babies and I were going to Hell.

Misery loves company, so I’m glad to know I’m not alone in dealing with idiots. Reddit user pnkpanthr25 shares the story of her baby shower and how her husband’s grandmother tried to shame her for daring to use science available to her to have a healthy twin pregnant. From Reddit:

I had ultrasound photos out in the nursery and people were looking at them. Some photos were their boy part pictures and I was told by the grandmother, that I was “disgusting” for showing the babies penises to other people and the grandmother refused to look at them. Even when an aunt tried to show her a profile pic she said “only God should know that, she (being me) shouldn’t know this much about them before they are born”… Someone asked if they were healthy so genetic testing was brought up (by my MIL) and I said they are perfect as far as all the tests go. I was once again called disgusting for playing God. And that I would have probably terminated if they weren’t healthy because my generation just throws things away. I tried explaining that we wanted to be prepared and read up on anything that may be wrong, and all the other reasons to have testing done besides termination (which was an option for us but I’d never tell her that). She wouldn’t listen and kept going on and on about how it’s not our place to play God.

 

Ah, yes, the “playing God” argument. When I told my friends and family that I had a bum reproductive system, most were supportive, but there were a few (extended) family members who told me I was wrong for using science to get pregnant because the Catholic Church views reproductive technology as immoral. Those people were not invited to my baby shower.

Even after my twins were born, I’ve run into the occasional idiot. While standing in line for ice cream when on vacation, a stranger went from smiling at my kids and making the sign of the cross over them to telling me my children were damned to Hell once he overheard me answer another mom’s inquiry about us “having a little help.” That same man also shared his opinion that seven months was too young to take my children to Disney World, so really, I think that comment alone makes him the evil one in this confrontation, not me.

Taking a step back and looking at the argument against using science to get pregnant without my emotions clouding the issue, it still makes no sense. Medical technology is always moving forward. Unless we all want to live like cavemen, using medicines and procedures available is what the progress of the human race is all about. My twins were born prematurely and spent time in the NICU, yet no one has ever said I was wrong or am going to Hell for letting the doctors save them using all the resources available, and conception is no different.

I don’t believe that using science to get pregnant means my children are going to Hell. If anything, I was the one who made the decision, so if such a place as Hell exists, and I broke some unwritten rule, any punishment should fall on me. Anyone who can look at the face of a little baby and think that they are doomed to spend eternity suffering despite doing nothing wrong has a warped understanding of religion and science. Sure, my kids can be little devils, but that doesn’t mean they are doomed.

(Photo: Shutterstock)