Yesterday Mitt Romney had 2 grandchildren born via surrogate. I have to had the story to my blog since it is a high-profile LDS surrogacy. Here is the story according to one article:
This the second time that Tagg, 42, and his wife, Jen,39, have used a surrogate. The same surrogate was used for the twins carried their youngest son Jonathan, who was born in August of 2010. Their other three children were not born via surrogacy.
On Facebook, Tagg gave even more details about the birth, confirming that the twins are his biological children. “Jen and I are happy to announce the birth of twin boys, David Mitt and William Ryder,” he wrote. “Everyone is healthy and happy. They weighed in at 5 lbs 13 oz and 19-3/4 inches and 6 lbs. 13 oz and 19 inches. A special thanks to our gestational surrogate who made this possible for us. Life truly is a miracle, and we feel so blessed to be able to celebrate the arrival of these precious boys into our family. For those keeping score at home, these are grandchildren numbers 17 and 18 for my parents.”
According to the official handbook of the Church of Latter Day Saints, to which the Romney’s are members, surrogacy is not encouraged. “The Church strongly discourages surrogate motherhood,” the handbook reads.
A Romney aide, when asked about the church’s view on the procedure, said that Tagg had made the bishops at his church aware of his family’s plans.
My personal feelings on it? I'm excited to see another LDS family doing surrogacy. We have no idea why they did it. I'm going to assume they did it for reasons similar to mine since they already have children that they already gave birth to.
When I read the article I wonder if there is going to be a huge increase in LDS people doing surrogacy now because of this high-profile case. I'm glad that whoever wrote the article did their homework and accurately reported that it is discouraged by the church. I would be afraid that everyone would think of it as an every-day good idea and go for it.
I consider myself very lucky. I have a perfect surrogate. We have a great friendship and relationship of trust. Yes, we have a legal contract which tells us what we "must" do (and I'm glad we have our contract), but honestly, we don't follow it very strictly. We have both been giving and taking as far as finances go to both mine and Vanessa's advantages at times. We can do that because of our trusting relationship. But even with girl who I'd chosen as my former surrogate, I know I never could have had that sort of relationship with her. A surrogacy relationship like ours is truely one in a hundred million. If I were to decide I wanted to have another child by surrogacy I would not even bother trying to find another surrogate. I know I could never find anyone like Vanessa (now it would be different if a friend or family memeber wanted to volunteer-- then it could probably be as good). Finding a complete stranger and making it work in such a smooth way is next to impossible. I can see the potential problems that would arise and therefore I can see why the church would discourage it.
I'm so happy for the Romney family. And I'm so happy for my family!
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