After deciding to stop fertility treatment with their own gametes, some people move on to donor egg, donor sperm, surrogacy or adoption. But for others, these alternatives are not acceptable. Choosing to be childfree, they decide is their best adoption. After grieving the loss of the hoped-for biological child, they invest the time, energy and money that would have gone to a child in their marriage, work, volunteer work, creative arts, travel, or spiritual development.
The link below includes several articles on this topic, including “Childfree Decision Making,” which I wrote when I was Clinical Director of RESOLVE, the national infertility organization. Essentially, I took all the concepts from my book The Baby Decision and applied them to this special situation.
Please let me know what you think about this choice for yourself or others. I look forward to hearing from you.
http://familybuilding.resolve.org/site/DocServer/05_Childfree_Decision_Making.pdf?docID=5701
