Test-Tube Babies Analysis

Eggs and sperm are stored in thousands of racks, waiting to be fertilized, ““These,” he waved his hand, “are the incubators.” And opening an insulated door he showed them racks upon racks of number test-tubes. “The week’s supply of ova.”” (16) In fertility clinics today, test-tube babies have become normality, in vitro fertilization has contributed to over 5 million births. Yet, just because science has found its way into procreation in today’s society, this does not mean it gives the government more control. It is ultimately the parents’ choice whether or not to have an IVF, something that more and more people have decided to do. People can start to choose whether or not they want certain characteristics to appear in their child, a choice that the government can never take away from them. After being stored, the next task of fertilization begins, “”This hive of industry,” as the Director was fond of calling it. […] Under the microscopes, their long tails furiously lashing, spermatozoa were burrowing head first into eggs.” (136). Though the task of fertilization mirrors the process seen today, it will never be kept in such an orderly fashion of government control as seen in the novel. The novel describes thousands upon thousands of fertilizations in a single week, as the government

Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement highlighted a variety of important issues. These issues include women’s right to make decisions privately versus the right of a community to regulate moral behavior; the ethnic demographics of the American people; the ability of women to control their own physical destinies by limiting family size; and the idea that small families were the way to keep the American dream alive. The debate over birth control spoke to personal and political issues, which poses the question: Was birth control merely a matter of individual choice, or was it about power, wealth, opportunity and similar issues? Birth control was not merely a technique to expand the realm of personal freedom; it grew out of a radical

When one contemplates the concept of eugenics, few think of modern contraception and abortion when in reality they are one in the same. The American Eugenics Society, founded in 1923, proudly proclaimed that men with incurable “conditions” should be sterilized. However these conditions were often none that could be helped, such as, one’s intelligence, race, and social class (Schweikart and Allen 529-532). The purpose of the society was to create the perfect class of men; elite in all ways. Likewise, Margaret Sanger’s feminist, contraceptive movement was not originally founded with this purpose. It was marketed as a way to control the population and be merciful to those yet to be born, again determined also by race and

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.

Imagine being a married woman in your 30’s during the beginning of the twentieth century. You are worn out from giving birth multiple times and you are desperate to know of a way to prevent yourself from having more children. This was the exact case for millions of women in the twentieth century. Women had no rights as a person, nor did they have any rights to their own bodies. In this era, the topics of sexuality, sex and birth control were all taboo subject matters and never discussed between married or unmarried couples. It wasn’t until the year of 1912 that a woman by the name of Margaret Sanger started her crusade to promote the right for women to use contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies. In this essay, I will discuss what inspired Margaret Sanger to stand up for birth control rights. I will also explore the trials and legal issues that Sanger came up against. Lastly, I will talk about the victory and the difference Sanger made for women in the twentieth century. Sanger dedicated her life and career to legalizing contraceptives all across the United States. She wanted all woman to have the freedom to decide whether or not they wanted children.

Birth control seems to be a fundamental part of people’s lives in this day and age. Some people simply do not want to have children until they feel the timing is right. Others, may never want to have children. It would seem logical to respect their choice and allow them the freedom to decide what is best for themselves. Yet, in the late 18th century the Comstock Act prevented the mailing of any type of contraceptives within the United States (PBS). One brave woman in particular was willing to stand up and challenge not only the Comstock Act but also the idea that contraceptive use is immoral. This woman is Margaret Sanger. Margaret Sanger took a stand for women’s rights by using her writing as a means of education, which challenged government regulations and eventually resulted in a shift in the overall acceptance of birth control.

Margret Sanger, writer of the essay “The Right to One’s Body” will be the author for this primary review. Sanger, as described by biography.com, was “… an early feminist and women’s rights activist who coined the term ‘birth control’ and worked towards its legalization” (“Margaret Sanger”). Margret was also responsible for the creation of the first planned parenthood center, and later was a founding member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Margret most notably belonged to the birth control movement, as she was a nurse working with women who were directly affected by the lack of child care options at the time. She continued her activism as

The 21st century however forecasts an astonishing increase in innovation in another direction. While previously overshadowed by its larger cousins, physics and chemistry, it seems likely that the biological sciences will steal the limelight in the future. Mapping the genome, reversing the aging process, and finding a cure for terminal illnesses, all represent primary objectives for science. Unfortunately, the ethical questions posed by innovations in biomedicine are far greater than those posed by advances in the physical sciences. Reproductive cloning is one of these innovations, and one that arguably poses the greatest threat to the world as we know it. The universal truth, blindly accepted by man for millennia, held that a human could only be born through the sexual union of a male and a female, to be exact, of an egg and a sperm. By cloning, however, a human life can be created in the laboratory. This is done by taking human DNA and inserting it into an egg cell, sans genetic material. The resultant cell is identical to the original, and can then be inserted into a uterus, either a human or an animal one, and be grown to term, to produce a baby, while circumventing nature’s means of reproduction.

“To the woman who wishes to have children, we must give these answers to the question when not to have them.”. This was an eloquent quote from Margaret Sanger that she delivered in her book, Women and the New Race. Margaret was a very prominent feminist and she believed that women should be educated by knowing they have the right to control what happens with their body. This person is considered, by Time Magazine, to be one of the most influential individuals of the 20th century, mostly due to her role sex education, birth control activism, and also for her writings pertaining to those issues. This is why Margaret Sanger was such an important individual. She changed course for women’s rights by advocating the legalization of the use of contraceptives

This article discusses the first two test tube babies meeting each other at a fertility conference. Through this, it displays how two of the first humans produced by this technology can bond over something such as their specialized births and what "life growing up in the spotlight has been like" (Simpson). The recognition of this event as a medical breakthrough helps to portray the importance of further advancement within this technology. As time continues so does the need to keep up with the new and upcoming technologies, and this article shows the importance of furthering the technology of IVF. The online article analyzed for the resolution of this topic was a book review in Louise Brown's autobiography. The review chose to focus on analyzing the parents of the first test tube baby opposed to the birth itself. This article states the negative effects IVF has had on the world and how it coincides with religion and moral beliefs. The review is very clearly against Louise Brown and what she has to say about the advancement that was her birth. Throughout the review, the author fails to include a counter argument for their

Margaret Sanger, a birth control activist, spoke in New York in 1921 about the legalizing birth control to ultimately promote women’s equality. In “The Morality of Birth Control,” Margaret Sanger states that birth control is moral for women to use when they are not able to raise a child of their own. “The Morality of Birth Control” is not persuasive because she strongly opposes rights for people who are part of the lower class, and her use of words that weaken her argument.

With the increasing popularity of eugenics in regards to prenatal screening, one can’t help but wonder, is this the dangerous idea of “playing God” that Shelley warned us about? One of the most common forms of eugenics nowadays is prenatal sex selection.

In order to break free from the shackles of predestined breeding, Sanger suggests that women “assert their right to voluntary motherhood.” Through thinking on their own, women can be in command of their own bodies and in turn determine how to live their lives. While this may seem absurd to a modern mind, this was truly innovative and dangerous for Sanger to suggest. She was challenging traditions that dated back hundreds of years. “Even as birth control is the means by

New technological advances and scientific methods continue to change the course of nature. One of the current controversial advances in science and technology is the use of genetically modified embryos in which the study exceeds stem cell research. Scientists have begun planning for research involving human embryos in the genetic modification field. Many technological developments are responsible for improving our living standards and even saving lives, but often such accomplishments have troubling cultural and moral ramifications (Reagan, 2015). We are already beyond the days in which virtually the only procreative option was for a man and a woman to conceive the old-fashioned way (Reagan, 2015). Genetic modification of human embryos can be perceived as a positive evolution in the medical process yet it is surrounded by controversy due to ethical processes. Because this form of genetic modification could affect later born children and their offspring, the protection of human subjects should be a priority in decisions about whether to proceed with such research (Dresser, 2004). The term Human Genetic Engineering was originally made public in 1970. During this time there were several methods biologists began to devise in order to better identify or isolate clone genes for manipulation in several species or mutating them in humans.

In the 1990’s, only 30% of all in-vitro fertilizations were successful, and of the 30%, only 20% resulted in live births. While on a business trip to Ecuador, my dad fell in love with a 27-year-old college student. Divorced, almost 50 years old with 3 adult sons, meeting his wife-to-be was the last thing he expected. Courtship was fast; a year later, they were married. My mother’s deepest desire had always been to have a child of her own; however, my father had undergone a vasectomy, which, unfortunately, was irreversible by the time he met my mother 20 years later. Nonetheless, my mother was not ready to let go of her dream. After five years of researching possible options, my mother finally became a member of the lucky 20 percent and I officially became a test tube baby.