The Story Of The Birth Of Duke's Boozer Twins Sparks Pro-Life Debate

Duke's twin basketball stars, Cameron and Cayden Boozer are miracles. They are the sons of former NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer, and they were born out of parental love for their sick child. But how it was done has sparked controversy. 

Backstory of the Boozer Twins' Birth

Cameron and Cayden's older brother, Carmani, was born with sickle cell disease, an inherited, lifelong blood disorder characterized by a genetic mutation that causes red blood cells to become rigid, sticky, and crescent-shaped, leading to chronic anemia, blood vessel blockages, pain, and potential organ damage. The life expectancy is about 30 years less than the average, with recent studies claiming that about 95 percent of children with the disease reach adulthood.

According to the Boozer's and their doctors, the best chance of saving Carmani's life was a bone marrow transplant. Detailed in ESPN's E60 episode, "Blood Brothers," the highest match probability in this case was a stem cell transplant using umbilical cord blood from a sibling, so the Boozer couple decided to go the IVF route. 

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is where an egg is fertilized by sperm outside the body, in a laboratory dish. It is used to treat infertility or genetic problems, like Carmani was dealing with, involving stimulation of egg production, retrieval, fertilization, and transferring the embryo to the uterus to achieve pregnancy. 

The problem is that IVF doesn't achieve a one-for-one creation. Many embryos are created in a petri dish. Parents decide which ones they want to keep, while either discarding the rest, or putting them on ice.

Saving a Life at the Expense of Others

Here's where things get extremely controversial, no matter what side of the political or religious aisle you land on. 

Both Carlos and CeCe had the sickle cell gene, the only way to ensure their next child would be sickle-free is through a thorough IVF screening process. Again, a decision between which lives are desirable and undesirable according the parents and doctors, if I'll be quite blunt.

In total, the doctors harvested 34 eggs from Cece; 10 became fertilized, sickle-free embryos. As said by Basketball Network, "Of the 10, only two were considered a ("perfect match.") With this development, the doctors suggested putting both fertilized embryos in Cece’s womb to ensure a favorable outcome."

The heavy weight to bear here is the fact that science affirms life begins at conception, so we can say with certainty that while a life now has the opportunity to be saved, lives were devalued and discarded at the same time. 

Birth of the Boozer Twins

The Boozer twins were born on July 18, 2007.

Immediately after the twins were born, doctors harvested stem cells from their umbilical cords. The procedure initially had an 85 percent success rate, but through chemotherapy ridding Carmani's body of his own bone marrow, he eventually made a full recovery, accepting the new marrow.

His brothers gave him a second chance at a full, healthy life. 

"The day I saw them, and they were here, and they were so beautiful and wonderful, I love them every bit as much as I did him (Carmani)," said Cece. "I felt like they were special because God had given me them to help Carmani."

So What's The Issue?

Here's where I include a both/and. I am both thankful for the lives of the twins, the health of Carmani, and saddened that Carlos and Cece decided to play God.

Through this process of IVF, children are treated as a commodity. While fighting to save their son’s life, an admirable, innate desire of any parent faced with such circumstances, they treated the children created through IVF, as expendable, spare parts, and raw material for another's survival.

"You feel like you’re having a baby for the wrong reason," Cece opened up in the ESPN documentary Blood Brothers. "I just felt guilty because it was more out of love for Carmani. It wasn’t out of love for them."

I believe that quote reemphasizes my assertion of the situation. While Carlos and Cece had a good heart behind the birth of their children, children were seen as a means to an end. More often than not, as explained in the ESPN documentary, the twins, and in turn the discarded embryos, weren't seen as even human. According to her, they didn't have personhood. Sadly, that's how much of society sees children in the womb or created in a lab.

Compared to the reasoning of many parents who go through with IVF, this was a "child-centered" decision to save a life, instead of the "parent-centered" reasoning of wanting to become parents because natural childbearing is not possible now or forever. 

When responding to pushback, and rebuke, like I am providing here, Cece said about 16 years ago, discussing the decision with ESPN's Lisa Salters, "I’m sure there’s a lot of people that think that’s wrong, but I don’t."

Cece went on to say, "They're (Cameron and Cayden) meant to be here, regardless of how they got here."

Personally, I'm thankful the twins are here. Every life is a blessing and a precious gift from God. I affirm that wholeheartedly.

I believe we can admit that the lives of Cameron, Cayden, and Carmani are a blessing, as is a clean bill of health, while acknowledging that life was treated, and is treated recklessly through this process of IVF. There were other options that could have saved more than just Carmani's life.

How To Swallow This Tough Pill

Whether you are mad at me and armed with many counterpoints, supportive of my assertions and my non-compromising pro-life stance, or somewhere in-between while reading this, let me leave you with this quote from Gandalf, speaking to Frodo, in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring:

"Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends."

Too often in a world of Plan B, and abortion on-demand in some states, children are seen as a burden, leading to holding off childbearing or simply discarding them through various means, like IVF. I believe we should hold life to the highest value. 

We should be a country that believes in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness from the very start; at conception.

The process the Boozers went through is detailed in ESPN's E60 episode: Blood Brothers. You can hear the family's full comments and responses from those who have criticized IVF and this specific case.