I don't have to remind you that our habitat is overloaded. [...] And all those little humans are causing major stress for Mother Earth...With the population burgeoning, parents who are facing infertility may be given a wonderful opportunity to help the planet a bit, by taking in a hungry mouth -- a baby who is already here, in a glowing package waiting for love.
-- Psychologist Wendy Walsh on IVF versus adoption
Over at TODAYMoms I was asked to respond to Walsh's article. I was offered 500 words to make my case. My first draft came in at about 8,000. I excised my careful refutation of her stats on IVF, which are inaccurate and alarmist, thereby trimming a good 1,500 words. I deleted a few cheap shots, which was about as painful as you'd expect given that that is kind of my thing, but which brought the count down a cool 3,750. And finally, in the spirit of professionalism, I cut out a whole bunch of swears -- unusually florid ones, even for me -- which brought it down to a manageable 800 or so. But there were still about 3,000 words I didn't have room to include, reasonable ones, good solid arguments, so I hope you'll understand that this is not the entirety of my response.
Check it out. In the next few days I hope to expand here on what I wrote there, if I'm not too busy polishing my Hummer with the skins of clubbed baby seals; giving hungry orphans the finger as I selfishly refuse to rescue them like a good infertile would; and heedlessly continuing to rely on fossil fuels to warm my home this winter when everyone knows that the more environmentally responsible option is radiant heat from all...those...glowing...packages.
