A few odds & ends for the weekend

• Goodness knows IVF (and the entire fertility industry) is far from perfect, and could use some better regulation/oversight -- but over the past 45+ years, IVF has nevertheless brought a lot of children (and a lot of joy) to families who desperately want them -- including Washington Post columnist David Von Drehle, who recounts his family's personal experiences with the procedure in "The perverse zealotry of the anti-IVF movement." (Gift link.)  Subhead: "If they knew what patients endured, antiabortion extremists might learn more about caring for unborn babies."  
• On the same front, from Jill Filipovic:  "Why You Should Care About Southern Baptists and IVF." (Subhead:  "They are a bellwether for where Evangelicals are headed. And they're coming for fertility medicine.")  
• Stirrup Queens is an adult! -- Mel is marking 18 (!!) years of blogging and building the online ALI (adoption/loss/infertility) community.  :)  I've been reading her almost that long, and I know I owe her a lot -- I'll bet many of you do too.  Go offer her congratulations on this milestone. 
• Lesley Pyne is wrapping up her blog, after 11 years, 225 posts and a book! Go wish her well and thank her for everything she's contributed to our community. 
• The elections in the U.K. got Sarah at Apricot Lane Coaching thinking about what a party platform that recognized single/childless people might look like, which led her to write "A Manifesto for the Childless Not By Choice." (She's got my vote -- I loved it!)