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Birth of A Miracle
By Kay Johnson
“Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you,” the email said. “I’ve been delivering babies.”
The email could have said, “I’ve been delivering miracles.”
The email could have said, “I’ve been delivering miracles.”
Because Dr. Robert Raspa has helped nearly 100 infertile women give birth.
Which begs the question, how? How does a Catholic physician, who honors the Catholic Church’s position against artificial procreation, have such a high success rate among childless couples?
“I had a conversion,” says Dr. Raspa. “Before I joined the family medical practice at St Vincent’s Hospital, I did what all doctors are taught to do for infertility. Start your patient on birth control pills to regulate her cycles, and go from there.”
Which begs the question, how? How does a Catholic physician, who honors the Catholic Church’s position against artificial procreation, have such a high success rate among childless couples?
“I had a conversion,” says Dr. Raspa. “Before I joined the family medical practice at St Vincent’s Hospital, I did what all doctors are taught to do for infertility. Start your patient on birth control pills to regulate her cycles, and go from there.”
But physicians at St. Vincent’s sign a pledge stating they will not prescribe birth control pills. That left Dr. Raspa with a problem in need of a solution. Or, perhaps, a miracle.
Is Omaha the new Nazareth?
Infertility has plagued humans since the beginning of time.
Yet, when Hannah, Sarah and Elizabeth prayed for a child, God answered.
Conception was God’s miracle until man decided to create his own – in test tubes. The Vatican immediately condemned the artificial method of procreation.
Look at the statistics.
Yet, when Hannah, Sarah and Elizabeth prayed for a child, God answered.
Conception was God’s miracle until man decided to create his own – in test tubes. The Vatican immediately condemned the artificial method of procreation.
Look at the statistics.
In 1987, U.S. doctors were performing fertilization procedures on 172,000 women per year, and achieving only about 65,000 births. Twenty years later the live birth rate through artificial methods was still less than 50 percent for women under the age of 35, and decreasing with age.
In his textbook, The Medical and Surgical Practice of NaPro Technology, Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers states, six in-vitro babies die (at some stage of development) for every live birth. And a recent study out of the United Kingdom reported a rate of 19 deaths for every live birth.”
Demoralizing odds and devastating costs, yet the cause of infertility remained largely unobserved, leaving no scientific alternative for childless couples until Pope Paul VI took up their cause. His 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae, famously challenged mainstream medicine to advance reproductive health care that respects life.
Dr. Hilgers responded. He dedicated 30 years to the Creighton Model FertilityCare™ System, the charting of natural biological markers that identifies a woman’s fertility cycle; and the women’s health science of Natural Procreative Technology (NaPro) that detects certain physical conditions and diseases that prevent conception. The procedures created a true lifetime monitor of female reproductive health.
Dr. Hilgers also founded the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction in Omaha, Neb. There, Dr. Raspa found his solution and his miracle: infertile women could conceive naturally, normally and remain true to the teachings of the church.
“When I returned from Omaha, I was blessed to meet Jacksonville people who could teach couples to read the body’s natural fertility indicators. Suddenly I had more patients than I could handle.”
That was 2003. Since then, all but five of his patients have conceived.
The Lesson“The main thing is to know there are options,” urges Dr. Raspa, “Things can be done that are natural, normal and legitimate. Don’t lose hope because even though we have the greatest medical science and most advanced medical technology in the world, God is so much further ahead. Just have faith.
Resources
Websites http://catholicipod.stblogs.com/2007/11/19/audio-dr-thomas-hilgers-your-fertility-care-consult
This site has links to audio interviews with Dr. Thomas Hilgers from his personal history and the development of NaPro, to specifics about various disease treatments and processes.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/catholic-fertility, an online Catholic Infertility Support group.
Recommended ReadingIn Their Own Words: Women Healed – Stories from women treated by NaPro.
Jean Packerd, editor
The NaProTechnology Revolution: Unleashing the Power in a Woman's Cycle by Dr. Thomas Hilgers.
Jean Packerd, editor
The NaProTechnology Revolution: Unleashing the Power in a Woman's Cycle by Dr. Thomas Hilgers.
GREAT article! Praise God for Dr. Hilgers and the work he is doing for women.
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