By now it is clear to one and all that George Bush, the Department of Homeland Security, and FEMA didn't give damn about saving lives in New Orleans during the Great Flood. These days the whole Vast Right Wing Conspiracy is spinning like a hurricane trying to convice y'all that you shouldn't give a damn about what happened in New Orleans as well. However, I would like to ask: What About the Embryos? Didn't anyone on the Christian right consider that FEMA footdragging would endanger thousands of unborn embryos at fertility clinics across the New Orleans area?
Forget about the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to be fed at the Convention Center. Forget about the wretched refuse washing up at the Superdome's teeming shore. Forget about evacuating the homeless and the tempest-tossed. Didn't the Christian right realize that FEMA wasn't even going to lift a finger to Save the Embryos? Thankfully, Governor Blanco has taken action, and some of these embryos have been saved. The New Orleans Times-Picayune is reporting that a
Team rescues embryos from east N.O. clinic; the clinic is run by the Fertility Institute of New Orleans, and it was innundated by flood waters, endangering many embryos:
On Sept. 9, they began arranging to remove the embryos, some of which had been stored there since 1989. The effort took off after one strategically placed call to an acquaintance, state Rep. John Alario, D-Westwego, who just happened to be en route to a meeting at Gov. Kathleen Blanco's office with representatives of the State Police and the National Guard. Alario brought the concern to the meeting's attention. "I told them the problem I had," Alario said, "and said we were looking for people - anywhere, anyhow - who were ready to go." As a result of that encounter and more telephone calls, a coalition was formed. On Sept. 11 at 7:30 a.m., a Fertility Institute contingent met members of the State Police, the National Guard and the Illinois Conservation Police at Bullard and Chef Menteur Highway to start what Dr. Sissy Sartor, a fertility specialist, called Operation Embryo Rescue. The Illinois group was there because it had three flat-bottomed boats.
Although the water had started to recede, Sartor said cars were still submerged, and some houses were under 6 feet of water. "It was mind-boggling," she said. "When we got the hospital door open, it was as if a dam had opened up. Water started flowing out." Spotting a dinghy bobbing nearby, Roman Pyrzak, the clinic's lab director, clambered aboard and paddled down the aisles and halls of the dark, dank building, followed by members of the State Police and National Guardsmen in waders.
Once the embryos were safe, Fertility Institute staffers started notifying clients of the rescue. "They were ecstatic," Sartor said. So was Alario. "It's almost like saving 1,000 lives at one shot," he said. "Maybe some of them could be twins."