Making pregnancy convenient part 2: possible consequences

Yesterday, I blogged about a story out of the UK Telegraph that reported on a new trend in the UK, that of "instant pregnancies."  To recap:

Women are increasingly seeking inappropriate IVF treatment because they do not have the time or inclination for a sex life and want to "diarise" their busy lives.

[…]

"Many of these couples are simply not having sex or not having enough sex," he said. "Conception has become medicalised. It’s too clinical. There has been a trend away from having sex and loving relationships towards medicalised conception."

Mr Dooley practises at Westover House clinic and the Lister Hospital, both in south-west London, and a clinic in Poundbury, Dorset. He said: "I have people who come to me for IVF who haven’t got time for sex. Those people don’t care about looking for a lifestyle or maximising their natural potential."

Emma Cannon, who runs the fertility programme at Westover House, said: "I have patients who diary sex in. When the they don’t fall pregnant they panic and think they need IVF.

"People want everything now. If they can’t have a baby now, they want IVF. They think it’s no different from putting your name down for a handbag. Some people are horrified by the idea that they have to have sex two to three times a week. About 10 per cent of people I see don’t have time to have sex. It’s usually when you have two professionals who are based in the city and are very busy.

My comments, as well the consensus in the comments section of that post seemed to be "too busy to conceive?" and "if you’re too busy to conceive, will you really have time to raise that child the in the loving, caring, and nuturing way it deserves to be raised?"

Well, today I read a quote over at Dawn Eden’s that made me think of that story again:

"I asked a six-year-old boy, ‘If you were going to go to heaven, what would you take along with you?’ And he said, ‘My mother and father.’ I asked him why, and he said, ‘Because I think they’d have more time for me up there.’" — Art Linkletter on problems facing the family

Of course, it is not up to me to tell people how to run their lives, or when to plan for a child.  But my hope is that when the time comes that the decision is made to have a child, that the decision is made with clarity of mind in knowing that a child is a big responsibility and it’s care should not be ‘scheduled in’ like a hair appointment.  It should be constant.  That is why the idea of "instant pregnancies" due to the parents "lack of time to conceive" is one I rebel against.  I guess I’m idealistic in that respect.  I think children should be conceived out of the love of their parents, and think just the thought of watching a child being born into the world, a child who was created out of the love of a man and a woman – and then watching that child grow and learn – is breathtaking.   Clinical conception out of convenience (rather than a medical necessity) just seems cold to me and represents yet a type of ‘progression’ that almost seems regressive in nature, if that makes sense.