The Pros And Cons Of Assisted Reproduction Technology

Only twenty years ago, embryo freezing (cryopreservation) was considered a technique that raised “disturbing,” “extremely difficult,” “incredibly complex,” and even “nightmarish” ethical issues. Currently, however, at least 41 of the 169 infertility clinics in the United States have begun to implement in vitro fertilization protocols (IVF) (Freemann et al., 1986). The number of frozen embryos in this country nearly tripled, from 289 to 824, between 1985 and 1986 (Van Steirteghem and Van Den Abbel, 1988). An estimated ten infants in the U.S. and sixty in the world were born as of 1988 after having been frozen as embryos. The government and professional advisory groups have endorsed embryo

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.

In a situation known as gestational surrogacy, a woman other than egg donor will serve as the surrogate. The donor eggs are fertilized with the father’s sperm during IVF and the resulting embryos are transferred to the surrogate’s uterus of the

The procedure of uterine transplantation is very promising. It presents hope to women who have none. The issue is not that the hope is a bad thing, the issue stems from the desire for nonmalefice mentioned earlier. Dr. Caplan states that for many women there exists a therapeutic misconception. The misconception is that the uterus transplant will work (682). According to Catanos el al., research shows that patients pursuing innovative surgery tend to focus so much on apparent benefits that the procedure may bestow that they fail to fully comprehend the risks associated with this procedure. At this point, all transplants of this sort are experimental, and there is no guarantee that the transplanted organ will result in a viable

One stipulation is that the woman is not offered the chance to donate the fetus until she has already decided to have the abortion. Other regulations include, but are not limited to, the requirement of that no person benefit economically from donating and that the individuals involved in research have no influence in the “timing, method, or procedures used to terminate the pregnancy” (Coutts 88). The fact that elective abortion is legal means that these abortions would still occur regardless of what was done with the fetus following the procedure. The relationship between these two should be founded on the understanding that the cause of death is irrelevant as long as the use of the available organs or tissue “did not contribute to the death” (Verklan 1175). The utilization of the fetal tissue is not intended to encourage abortion; the primary goal of this embryonic research is to contribute to lifesaving vaccines along with treatments for degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s. Fetal tissue is valuable because it easily adjusts to a new environment without destroying foreign tissue already in the body, which makes it less

Many people and organisations have varied opinions on the use of PGD, some for and some against. One view against PGD is the Catholic Church. The Catholics oppose all kinds of artificial contraception and assisted reproductive technology, because they believe it is “separating the goal of marital sex from the goal of uniting married couples” The Church allowed small numbers of natural contraceptive and reproductive methods such as charting ovulation times, though they are strongly against the use of IVF, with Pope Benedict XVI stating, “it replaces love between husband and wife”. It also opposed IVF because it might result in the disposal of embryos, which are seen as an individual with a soul that must be treated as a person. The alternative

Rarely any women encounter many side effects or unbearable pain after this procedure. However, there are numerous disadvantages that could be brought up. The most dangerous risk that could be encountered is the keen discomfort brought by the Catheter.

After the birth of Louise Brown, first in the world test-tube baby, the techniques of Assisted Reproduction have gained a very large diffusion and a great effort has been put to improve the knowledge of the complex mechanisms residing behind human reproduction. Yet, the results are often disappointing, with a chance for pregnancy ranging from around 60% in young patients till around 24% in women above the age of 40. Repeated attempts to conceive after sometimes years, are disappointing and truly devastating for people willing to have a family. The disappointment can become all-consuming, principally for the woman who feels guilty and the sole accountable of the failure.

The policy that will be mainly discussed is the state and federal laws toward the use of Assisted Reproductive Technology(ART). The government should provide funding to allow all states to pass infertility insurance laws. In order to give infertile couples a chance to create their own family with a healthy baby.

Imagine being told you will never be able to have a child. For many women this is the case. Nearly 4500 newborn girls are born with ovaries, but no uterus. This can be very detrimental news for any women with hopes of eventually having a family. Eventually, women with this syndrome, will never have to hear that they are incapable of having a child of their own. Doctors from the Cleveland Clinic hospital in Weston, Florida are working to be the first in the United States to successfully transplant a uterus from a donor to a live women. The transplanted uterus will be taken from organ donors, as the surgery is too vigorous for a live person, though it has been done in Sweden. The uterus of a donor can survive up to eight hours outside of the body if it is kept cold. The eligible recipients of the transplant are women who are born without a uterus, had it removed or have uterine damage.

Currently, in the United States there are no laws limiting how far you can go with this technology; raising questions on how far people will go to design human beings. At the time in vitro fertilization with preimplantation genetic diagnosis is roughly $20,000 and is never covered by insurance as they are deemed unnecessary. Many people believe the embryo is already a person and tossing away embryo’s that are deemed “bad” or “unworthy” is killing the babies life. If sex selection for first children were carried out on a large scale, it could lead to large gender gaps such as those already experiencing them in India and China. Not only does culture play a huge role but religion is just as important on this matter. Many religions believe childbirth is a very natural experience and should only be left in the hands of god. If many people were to continue such procedures and PGD became a common practice then the value of “natural” born children would decrease. This leads to the question is PGD

Many scientists and others believe that if gene therapy can be refined, it could be implemented to ultimately put an end to genetic disorders. The parents would have the children they want, and the children who had the natural disposition towards a genetic disorder could possibly become a normal child, whereas otherwise they would probably end up losing their life due to abortion. Those that support gene therapy view it as a win-win strategy:

IVF raises many of these difficult moral issues. If the above conceptions about the nature of ethics were correct, however, discussion of these issues would either be futile (because morality is a matter of personal choice or opinion) or superfluous (because morality is what a divine or secular authority says it is) (Walters 23). In this paper, I want to suggest that it is not only possible, but also necessary to inquire into the ethics of such practices as IVF because the fact that we can do something does not mean that we ought to do it.

Artificial reproductive technology (ART) is defined as procedures which stimulate a woman 's ovaries to produce eggs, the eggs are then removed, combined with sperm, and then returned to a woman 's body (Bell, 2016). ART is becoming more and more popular throughout that globe. This method of conceiving children gives women who may be struggling with infertility options that were not possible before the advent of such methods. ART is relevant to the sociological definition of global health because it is evidence of the fact that our world has become interdependent especially when it comes to medical technology. However with ART comes the notion of the culture of disguise and in many countries this is an integral part of artificial reproductive technology process. With that being said, sociologists should look to study and understand the culture of disguise in ART as it pertains to global health and it shapes interactions between people and the society they live in.

Every living thing is the product of the genes that were passed down from ancestors. Genes make up everything we are. One gets their traits from their parents. Most people live full lives with relatively good health. However, some people inherit mutated genes or faulty genes. This could lead to genetic disorders that could be life threatening. Even today, many genetic disorders still remain incurable, leaving many people without hope. Genetic therapy could be their answer. It is through this research that the cure for genetic disorders can be found. Though some people believe it is unethical or immoral to alter genes, current therapeutics have not been able to save the lives of the patients with these diseases. Genetic therapy