Them Before Us Podcast #089 | Born of IVF & Blinded By Birth Control: A Story of Pro-Life Hope

Date: August 26, 2025
Host: Jennifer Friesen
Guest: Chelsea ("Blind Mom Life")

Overview

In this powerful episode, Jennifer Friesen interviews Chelsea, a pro-life speaker and advocate born via IVF, who later lost her vision due to complications from birth control. Chelsea shares her unique perspective on reproductive technology, children’s rights, and the importance of informed consent—interweaving her personal journey with broader ethical and cultural critiques. Listeners gain a deeply personal and thought-provoking look into the lived experiences behind debates on IVF, abortion, and child commodification, all presented with honesty, empathy, and hope.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Chelsea’s Story: From IVF Conception to Pro-Life Conviction

• Early Knowledge of Her Origins

  • Chelsea’s parents told her from a very young age that she was conceived via IVF, even before explaining natural reproduction.
  • This openness sparked Chelsea’s early curiosity about reproductive issues and eventually drew her to the pro-life movement.
  • “I think I knew about IVF before I even knew about the birds and the bees.” (01:30)

• Realization of IVF’s Ethical Dimensions

  • As a pre-teen, Chelsea’s independent research revealed darker truths behind IVF: the creation and destruction of embryos, and how the process fails to solve underlying fertility issues.
  • “We’re going to make, like, a ton of babies, and then we’re going to kill most of them, and then maybe one of them will survive…IVF does not respect little human lives at all.” (01:30)

2. Family Dynamics: Informing the Informed

• Educating Her Own Parents

  • Chelsea and her sister introduced new information about IVF’s realities to their parents, who lacked informed consent.
  • Her mother expressed deep regret upon learning that embryos had been discarded:
    • “She said that she didn’t know she was killing her babies. That’s not fair. That’s not right. But that’s what happened to my parents.” (03:36)

• Historical Context & Pressures

  • In the 1990s, IVF was less common and discussed in secrecy due to stigma and lack of information, especially in religious communities.
  • Medical advice focused on what was technologically possible, not on ethical or long-term consequences.
  • “Abuse is what happens when things are kept in darkness.” (06:40)

3. The Complexity of Conversations and Family Relationships

• Navigating Hard Truths with Compassion

  • Chelsea maintains a balance between her advocacy and her parents’ feelings, acknowledging both truth and the pain it brings:
    • “Let’s hold truth in one hand and…their feelings in the other…make this into a good thing without unnecessarily harming people even more than they have to be?” (14:08)
  • Shares loneliness experienced by donor-conceived/IVF children who must carry both their own and their parents’ emotional burdens.

• Unique Burden for Children Conceived via IVF or Donor Technologies

  • Distinguishing the emotional struggles of children born through reproductive technology, particularly when their parents made active—and sometimes uninformed—choices.
  • “Do you know how much I paid for you? ... It’s impossible not to feel like you’re a product when you know these things about you.” – Recalling another donor-conceived person’s story (15:35)

4. Intersecting with Birth Control: Personal and Systemic Dangers

• Discovering the Risks

  • Chelsea’s awareness of how certain birth control methods can prevent implantation of embryos led her to question her physician, who dismissed her concerns.
  • “Is this medication you’re going to give me…going to prevent a zygote from attaching on the uterine wall? And she just looked at me like I was stupid.” (21:26)

• Medical Crisis and Aftermath

  • Chelsea suffered a life-threatening pulmonary embolism and ultimately went blind due to complications from birth control; she recounted both medical dismissal and lack of true informed consent.
  • “I had a pulmonary embolism...I went to see another doctor, they literally were like, ‘You are going to be blind by Monday.’” (23:21)
  • Contrasted with the tragic sudden death of a friend under similar circumstances, emphasizing the severity of these risks.

5. The Cultural and Industrial Conditioning of Women

• Challenging Societal Narratives
  • Chelsea critiques societal pressures that prioritize adult desires, career, and delayed childbirth, often at the health and human cost of women and children.
  • “The entire thing is completely about money…[they] take your most fertile years…then they sell it back to us for thousands later.” (26:02)
  • Host Jennifer Friesen adds, “For most of human history, the ideal was you get married and start having babies right away... And our culture has it so backwards.” (26:17)

6. Medical System Critique: Abortion Pressure and Profit Motive

• Chelsea shares an instance of being pressured toward abortion for her potentially-disabled child, and how that pressure vanished once abortion was no longer legally available.
  • “As soon as I hit my state’s little legal cutoff for abortion, all of that abortion talk disappeared…because they couldn’t make money off of me anymore.” (28:13)

7. Redemptive Perspective and Hope

• Personal Growth and Family
  • Chelsea’s personal trials—IVF origins, blindness, parenting—have strengthened her compassion, moral clarity, and advocacy.
  • “If I had to go blind, if I had to be conceived in IVF…for me to understand that…I’m so glad, I’m so glad that I did.” (31:14)
• Message of Empowerment
  • Chelsea encourages others to value informed decision-making, the dignity of all life, and the need for honest conversation—even when uncomfortable.

Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “I knew about IVF before I even knew about the birds and the bees.” – Chelsea (01:30)
• “Abuse is what happens when things are kept in darkness.” – Chelsea (06:51)
• “Let’s hold truth in one hand and their feelings in the other hand...How can we bridge this gap?” – Chelsea (14:08)
• “I love you so much, I was willing to put you at risk for abuse. And how are you supposed to respond to that?” – Chelsea (17:10)
• “I mean, gosh, I don’t even know what the technology would have been back then, but right now they have to pump you full of hormones, and...mass produce and harvest your eggs.” – Jennifer (10:17)
• “You check a consent, and you sign it and all these things...they told us, you know, put your fertility on the shelf, and then they sell it back to us for thousands later.” – Jennifer (25:56)
• “If I had to go blind, if I had to be conceived in IVF…for me to understand that…I’m so glad, I’m so glad that I did.” – Chelsea (31:14)
• “My blindness is not for me. I don’t know that I would have had the moral conviction...if I hadn’t been introduced to pro-life issues by being conceived through IVF…and...by being disabled myself.” – Chelsea (30:05)

Notable Segments by Timestamp

• 01:30 – Chelsea’s early awareness and pro-life awakening
• 03:36 – Heartbreaking revelation and regret from her mother about discarded embryos
• 06:40-08:58 – Medical advice, secrecy, and lack of informed consent in the ’90s
• 13:08-14:30 – Family dynamics: balancing advocacy and parental compassion
• 17:09-18:36 – The emotional complexity and silence among IVF/donor-conceived children
• 21:21-23:54 – Birth control, medical dismissal, and Chelsea’s blindness
• 26:02-27:13 – Critique of cultural narratives and fertility industry motives
• 28:13-29:54 – Medical pressure toward abortion and profit-driven care
• 31:14-32:07 – Redemptive perspective on suffering, disability, and advocacy
• 32:07-33:30 – Chelsea’s experience parenting as a blind mom

Where to Find Chelsea

• Social Media: @BlindMomLife (Instagram, YouTube, TikTok)
• Ambassador Speakers Bureau – For booking speaking engagements

Summary Tone:
The conversation is frank, heartfelt, and blends compassionate insight with critical analysis of reproductive technology and cultural trends. Chelsea’s candid storytelling, vulnerability, and humor (especially around “blind mom life” moments) make tough topics relatable and illuminating.

Recommended for:
Anyone interested in child-centric ethics, the lived experiences behind reproductive technologies, and powerful personal stories of hope, resilience, and advocacy.

(End of summary. Direct links and further info are available in show notes.)