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We are John and Lucinda Borden, residents of Fontana,
California. John holds a MBA
and is the Director of the Budget and Financial Analysis for the
University of Redlands in Redlands, California.
I hold a B.S. from Azusa Pacific University and am Director of
Fiscal Services for East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program.
I was told in 1997 after five years of trying
unsuccessfully to conceive that I could not ovulate.
This was devastating for me and difficult for John, albeit John, as
a widower, experienced the miracle of childbirth three times.
Over the course of a year, I went through a severe grieving process
involving denial, anger, and finally acceptance.
In the last stage of my grieving, John and I began
considering traditional adoption as an alternative to conception. I had a
few serious reservations. First,
I could not experience pregnancy through child adoption. My deepest desire was to carry a baby and bond with it.
I also hoped to control its nutritional and other input during the
gestational period. Obviously,
this would not be possible with traditional adoption.
Second, I was adopted through a closed adoption in
1965 and wrestled until 1997 with wanting to know about my biological
parents. My adoptive parents
strongly opposed this, fearing that I would abandon them.
I began to share the same fear when we considered adoption.
However, when I met my genetic parents in 1997, I realized that the
bond I shared with my adoptive family could never be severed.
This assuaged my own fears about an open adoption, designed to
acquaint my children with their birth parents and allow them to ask the
questions I wanted answered.
Accordingly, John and I decided to apply for an open
adoption of a child in July 1999. We
began a home study through Nightlight International Adoptions, the same
agency through which I was adopted, and submitted a portfolio on our
family, including pictures and an autobiography of ourselves, our family,
and our marriage. We also
went through thorough medical, psychological, paternal, and background
evaluations.
Then, the agency announced a new service:
embryo adoption. Because it featured conception, we immediately changed course
in favor of it. After
reviewing our home study, Mark and Luke's genetic parents, Tim and Donna
Zane, approved us as adoptive parents.
We also selected them.
The Zanes conceived 10 embryos on or about July 1998.
They froze six embryos for future use, in the event the initial
transfer failed. Mark and
Luke's genetic parents originally intended to terminate them if the
embryos proved unnecessary to conceive.
In February 1999, after they gave birth to triplets, they realized
they could not destroy their six siblings.
Surveying the internet for a solution, the Zanes stumbled across
the Snowflakes Program.
On December 10, 1999, the Zanes entered into a
contract with us for an open adoption, a copy of which is attached. Id.; Ex. A, Contract.
The Zanes authorized us to implant two straws containing three
embryos each. We could not
terminate any of the embryos and agreed to advise the adoption agency and
the genetic family of the outcome of implantation.
Sadly, during thawing, three of the Zanes' embryos perished and
could not be implanted.
I received two weeks of estrogen shots every three
days to prepare my womb for implantation.
Three days before and twelve weeks after implantation, physicians
also gave me daily shots of projesterone.
I also had ultrasounds to ensure that my uterus was in good
condition. The actual procedure took minutes. Then I had to lay idle for a few hours in the office.
The total cost of the procedure, $10,000, was roughly the same as
for traditional domestic adoption and much cheaper than traditional
international adoption.
On January 31, 2000, three embryos were transferred
into my womb. The
embryologist took a picture of Mark, Luke, and their sibling on this date.
Ex. B, Photograph. The
following two weeks were the longest in our lives as we waited to find out
if they would attach. On
February 14, 2000, Valentine's Day, a blood test revealed I was
pregnant. We were ecstatic!
At this point we did not know how many children had attached.
HCg tests over the next few weeks were high, but perhaps not high
enough for triplets. On
February 28, 2000, we had our first ultrasound and heard two heartbeats. We grieved for our third child, but rejoiced in Mark and, we
were told, Hannah.
John and I began talking and singing to our kids
right away. I felt both
children kick for the first time during the first week of June 2000.
I felt flutters before, but this time while laying on the couch
Mark lit into me. I then lay
on the other side and felt his sibling.
On September 27, 2000, I delivered twins at 36 ½
weeks by C-section. Ex. C,
Photograph. Mark and, it
turned out, Luke were born. In
keeping with our agreement with the Zanes, their birth certificates read
"Mark and Luke Borden." Ex. D, Birth Certificate.
The Zanes relinquished all parental rights over them.
Watching the twins mature has been fun and
educational. Ex. E,
Photograph. They have interacted with each other since birth.
Luke has a contagious laugh. Mark
is serious and takes everything into perspective before giving a response.
They have taught me so much about myself, as a woman, wife, and
mother. It is hard to put
into words their contribution to our lives.
Like John and Marlene Strege, we have come forward
today, despite our serious reservations about the affect of publicity on
our family and kids, to plead with you not to approve funding for research
that will kill frozen embryos such as Mark and Luke were roughly one and
one-half years ago.
We understand and share the passion many calling for
embryo research have to find rapid medical remedies for serious diseases.
My adoptive mother died from complications related to lupus and my
grandmother died from brain cancer. John's
first wife perished from breast cancer.
We have suffered terrible tragedy due to disease.
However, we have also experienced unparalleled joy at the birth of
Mark and Luke. We are
confident that my mother and grandmother would never have sacrificed our
children for their therapy.
Nor do we think any such sacrifice is necessary for
medical progress. It is clear
that the advances possible with adult, placenta, and umbilical stem cells
are in their infancy. On the
other hand, recent articles suggest embryo stem cell research is deadly
not just for the donor embryo, but also the recipient patient.
Mark and Luke are living rebuttal to the claim that
embryos are not people. They
are also testimony to the terrible loss this country will perpetrate if
you approve federal funding for embryo stem cell research.
Thousands more children could be adopted by the roughly two million
mothers desperately longing to conceive.
Thousands more could lend their talents and skills to this country.
Accordingly, we plead with you not to fund their slaughter.
Thank you. |
