Smashing Idols Misti Mazzurca

From the 1920’s until the 1990’s, unwed mothers in Ireland  were forced into institutions such as Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby homes in order to conceal their sin of premarital sex and conceiving out of wedlock from the public eye. 
Within these institutions, run by religious organizations like the Bon Secours Nuns and Presbyterians/ Plymouth Brethren, these women and their children were subject to horrific abuse. The infant mortality rates of these institutions were nearly double the national rates. Reports show that 1 in 7 children born into these homes died from preventable illnesses, neglect, or malnutrition. Many children were stolen from their mothers and either boarded out as free laborers to local families or trafficked to wealthy families in Europe and the US through illegal adoptions.

In 2014, a news story broke claiming there may be as many as  800 children believed to have been buried in a mass grave where the Bon Secour Mother and Baby Home in Tuam once stood.  This set off an outcry from the public to launch an investigation into these homes and into the dark secrets they hid from the public. This investigation led to uncovering the truth of how the religious orders behind these institutions profited off taking advantage of these “fallen women” while leaving many of them homeless and destitute and forcing mothers to give up their children for adoption against their will. This is a story of the overreach of religious power and how dangerous it can be to pursue a facade of holy uprightness and purity within a broken society, leaving innocent children as victims and collateral damage.

Sources used in this episode:
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/social-affairs/2023/06/04/every-little-bone-the-difficult-exhumation-ahead-at-tuams-former-mother-and-baby-home/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethany_Home

https://www.christianpost.com/news/catholic-leagues-bill-donohue-claims-headlines-of-800-babies-discovered-in-mass-gave-in-ireland-is-hoax-and-mass-hysteria.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_Secours_Mother_and_Baby_Home

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_and_Baby_Homes_Commission_of_Investigation

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54693159

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/bethany-home-no-exception-to-high-rates-of-infant-mortality-in-protestant-run-institution-1.4456513

https://www.tuambabies.org/tuam-baby-names.html

https://youtu.be/LxAz-mkNBMU?si=M4aSk_R5KXyr_gRq

https://youtu.be/VtH0bXVE0QI?si=y4wKJsKEBOJm3Ywk

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/redacted-lives/id1652079463

Oh, hi! It’s been awhile. I tucked myself away for a season of rest and deep healing from medical PTSD and other crappy life happenings. 

In this episode, I get really vulnerable in sharing an event that happened to me last summer in the hands of a medical provider,  and how a recent encounter  triggered a massive trauma response that left me completely unraveled. In that moment of brokenness, I found the healing that I have been needing but was too checked out and in denial to seek.  I also share a couple of big-little things that seemed almost miraculous that happened over the Christmas holiday. 

There is beauty in the brokenness, solace in the shipwreck, and calm in the tempest if we just lean into the Almighty. 

Sending prayers of mercy and grace for all those who are really going through it right now. May the LORD be your strength in every step of the way. 

In this episode, we explore generational curses, what they are and what they aren’t. We  examine the difference between our modern definition of the term compared to the ancient meaning of the word curse. We look at what popular culture teaches compared to what the Bible says. And we explore if what we’ve been told are generational curses are actually sinful behaviors  that are passed down from one family member to the next.  Is there any hope at all in the charismatic teaching of generational curses? 
Galatians 3: 13  Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”)

What are Generational Curses? Bible Truths About Causes & Remedies

https://www.gotquestions.org/hereditary-spirits.html

 https://youtu.be/kJvKt7UXAQQ?si=G7HtyITwBR4u5i7d
 

The unplanned finale of the Big Business of Buying Babies series. 

After receiving many messages from listeners, I decided to explore the darkest sides of the fertility industry. And honestly, this was a very difficult one for me to get through.

In this episode, we explore real-life scenarios of the serial sperm donor of The Netherlands, implications of the frozen embryo crisis,  moral and ethical issues like sex selection, what happens when the fertility clinic implants the “wrong” embryo, and who is really in charge of the gestational carrier’s body during a surrogate pregnancy ( spoiler alert: it’s not the woman carrying the baby), and what happens to unused embryos when one of the intended parents decides they no longer desire to procreate with their partner. The messy truth is revealed in court cases and judges’ rulings. Where should the line be drawn between access to human reproductive technology and the entitlement of fulfilling our desires to be parents? Is it morally reasonable to create the baby of your dreams?

Sources referenced in his episode:

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/same-sex-couple-sues-fertility-clinic-over-alleged-wrong-sex-embryo-implant/
https://nypost.com/2022/03/27/couple-sues-fertility-clinic-after-receiving-male-embryo/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12254637/Surrogate-claims-gay-dads-told-terminate-pregnancy-24-weeks-cancer-diagnosis.html
https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92627&page=1
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/14/baby-gammys-twin-sister-stays-with-western-australian-couple-court-orders
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/features/nation-s-fertility-clinics-struggle-growing-number-abandoned-embryos-n1040806
https://www.elle.com/culture/a12445676/the-leftover-embryo-crisis/
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/19/us/california-judge-orders-frozen-embryos-destroyed.html#:~:text=In%20the%20first%20decision%20in,wife's%20right%20to%20use%20them.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/divorced-couple-fight-frozen-embryos-colorado-court/story?id=52270585
Sofia Vergara Still Ensnared In Legal Battle Over Frozen Embryos
https://nypost.com/2023/03/28/sperm-donor-who-fathered-550-kids-sued-over-incest-risk/
Eggsploitation documentary https://youtu.be/jAMrwAGR3GA
The Retrievals podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-retrievals/id1691599042?i=1000618732469

Welcome to part 1 of the Big Business of Buying Babies. In this installment, we explore the current infertility rates in the US, some of the factors that could be contributing to those issues, we look at Big Medicine’s answer to our fertility problems, and we examine the enormous price tag attached to the services offered. Do doctors and pharma really have the answers to our prayers? Or are we surrendering all of our power and desires to a greedy industry that’s out to line their pockets with huge profits while leaving us mortgaging our homes and selling off assets, all to chase our desires to be mommies and daddies.

Below is a list of the articles and sources used for these data points.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/birth-rate-by-country
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/infertility.htm
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/infertility
https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/family-finance/articles/how-much-surrogacy-costs-and-how-to-pay-for-it

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/parenting/fertility/ivf-long-term-effects.html
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/02/18/279035110/ivf-baby-boom-births-from-fertility-procedure-hit-new-high
https://www.cdc.gov/art/artdata/index.html
https://www.forbes.com/health/family/how-much-does-ivf-cost/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1936357/

https://www.today.com/parents/pregnancy/ivf-success-rate-rcna38775

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In Part two of this series, we look at the history of surrogacy, we define what it is, we look at the common uses for this form of conception, we investigate the big money involved in the industry, and why some countries have outlawed commercial surrogacy altogether.  We also look at “fertility tourism”, the practice of couples traveling all over the world to seek the best options for help making babies and for third-party conception. Is surrogacy simply an altruistic method of fulfilling the dreams of couples desiring a family? Or is there a privileged side to the wealthy who think they are entitled to someone else bearing the burden of childbearing for them? 

More to come in Part three. 

Sources for this episode:
https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/family-finance/articles/how-much-surrogacy-costs-and-how-to-pay-for-it

https://www.healthline.com/health/parenting/gestational-surrogacy#how-it-works

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/16/world/europe/ukraine-surrogacy-war

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertility_tourism