Should Australian Government Use IVF Ethical?

In the article “Selecting the Perfect Baby: The Ethics of “Embryo Design,” is an article about a married couple, name Larry and June Shannon. They have a daughter, four years old, name Sally, who is diagnosed with Fanconi Anemia. Therefore, the Shannons are getting help from a research team, to find the perfect bone marrow transplant for Sally. The Shannon couple is also interested in having another child and they are aware of the risks and odds of success. However, a PGD process has to be performed and the couple must undergo an IVF procedure more than once, before the implantation is successful, to be able to produce a healthy full-term baby.

Australian law reforms have been adequately effective in dealing with surrogacy and birthing technologies. The NSW state reforms have effectively supported the changing values of society by aiming to achieve justice and avoid conflicts surrounding surrogacy, while the commonwealth is obsolete on effective laws to prevent surrogacy issues. As the demand for surrogacy and birthing technologies increases, issues surrounding surrogacy are more prevalent in society. Additionally, there is no Commonwealth law, meaning each state and territory has developed individual laws of surrogacy and birthing technologies, allowing for issues and challenges surrounding the protection and the rights of all parties involved.

Non-legal responses include surrogacy Australia, which advocates for surrogacy as an effective means for infertile parents. By supporting surrogacy it helps to make it a positive way of becoming parents, which creates debate about it which eventually helps to create a law reform which will benefit people.

Making big choices in life can be difficult, especially if that big choice is having children. There are many men and women who are infertile that still want to have children. Most decide to adopt other children who do not have families or their families do not want them. But when adoption is not an option, there is now a way where those men and women can have their own children together through fertility treatments. Fertility treatments could be a good thing:being able to freeze egg and sperm, they can help infertile couples, and avoiding transmitted diseases would be easier.

The rights that were infringed were the rights to have access to IVF treatment as a single woman. These rights were infringed when Leesa Meldrum was denied the service for the reason of being a single woman. This meant she wasn’t following the requirements that were needed to receive the treatment. According to The Victorian Infertility Act 1995 in order to receive IVF treatment you have to be married or in a de facto relationship, therefore single and homosexual women we’re denied the service.

The first child to ever be from using test tube techniques happened in the late 1970’s. Although many have applauded this new type of technology, there is an ethical issue on whether or not embryos should be created in test-tube knowing that fact that many are not implanted and have human development. “Octo-Mom” is a classic case that may have changed many people’s perception when it comes to in-vitro fertilization. Many felt that it was ethically wrong for her doctor to conduct that type of procedure to a woman who will not have the ability to provide adequate care for the well-being of her children who may have health issues.

Many couples hope of one day having the “American Dream.” A little house in a nice neighborhood with a white picket fence, a dog, and children playing in the yard. Sadly, this dream is not as easy to obtain for some as it is for others. 1 out of every 6 couples experience difficulty with fertility; however, not all hope is lost. The medical field offers several different options for those experiencing the pains of infertility such as IUI and IVF. For some, adoption seems to be the best, or only option, to form the precious family that they have always dreamed of having. Most people are familiar with the traditional adoption process, but few have heard of embryo adoption. Embryo adoption proves to be a great alternative to IUI, IVF, or traditional adoption for couples wanting to have a baby.

In vitro fertilisation (IVF) marks a great step forward in medical technology, and Australia is a leader in the field. IVF is now a popular procedure for couples who are infertile or are having trouble conceiving. However, it raises ethical, moral and legal issues including the rights of an individual, property rights, the definition of human life, scientific experimentation versus a potential human life, religion, costs, and community, medical and taxpayer’s rights.

“To claim that there are enough ‘spare’ embryos in IVF [in vitro fertilization] clinics is nonsense.” (Peter Hollands)

The principle of nonmaleficence, to do no harm, in reproductive technology can be applied to the prospective parents and the prospective child-the embryo. The procedures involved in attempting to impregnate a woman can be physically and emotionally damaging, but rewarding if done successfully. But the parties must first determine to what extent and at what cost will they risk to achieve their ultimate goal. It would cause great harm physically to the embryos if there were multiple unsuccessful attempts, but many would argue that the end outweighs the means, that it is worth it if the result was a viable pregnancy and healthy child.

Mnay clinics started opening up and many couples had beared the expensive cost to try this treatment.

To begin with, I will provide the basic medical facts involving IVF to give a solid understanding of what goes into the whole process and what facts involving this process cause the questioning of the ethical and moral issues. Infertility affects about 4.9 million couples in the United States, or one in every twelve. Approximately one-third of infertility cases can be traced to causes in the female (Encarta). However, a small proportion of infertile

This article describes how and why there has been an increase in demand even though there are ethical issues. The article states, “‘People want it. It’s legal,’ said Dr. Michael Feinman, medical director of HRC Fertility offices in Westlake Village and Encino. ‘In a competitive market, it’s obviously a way to acquire other patients’” (“Lab Methods”).

associated with the use of advanced assisted reproductive technology (Teays&Purdy, 2001, Bioethics,Justice,&Health Care,p.648).Currently, the number of in vitro fertilization procedures that can be performed by 100 heath-care workers is about 1,000 per year. Any implication of medical and laboratory procedures that could improve results would decrease the number of healthcare workers needed and ultimately lower the cost per procedure (Teays&Purdy, 2001, Bioethics,Justice,&Health Care,p648).

Jennifer Rosenberg on about.com (n.d.), had stated, “On July 254, 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the world’s first successful ‘test-tube’ baby was born in Great Britain.” This was advancement in the medical history for women everywhere who had difficulty getting pregnant; this medical breakthrough, known as In-vitro fertilization, or IVF, since Louise Joy Brown’s birth had only grown in ease and the amount of people that use this technology is at an all-time high. The CDC (2014) stated on their website that, “Number of women ages 15-44 who have ever used infertility services: 7.4 million.” This is a massive number of people that use this service. In-vitro fertilization’s advancement in medical technology allows people to have children despite