In Vitro Fertilisation

The practice of IVF and especially its future potential applications creates legal and religious problems, which have special problems with regard to implementation of this procedure in different societies.

The birth of the first IVF baby in 1978 brought a lot of hope to many people. The technology, which went with IVF, has meant that other forms of treatment have improved dramatically as well. As I said developments like these raise hopes for many people but also despair for many others. Despair because perhaps they feel that this is something that they can't really come to terms with on ethical grounds. Many people from various religious backgrounds find the new technologies difficult.

The embryo as a person: the embryo constitutes a legal person from the moment of conception.

The embryo as property: the young in vitro embryo is a form of biological property

Scientifically, it is at conception that a biological entity is created with a genome distinct from that of either parent. That

As a student of Science major in Genetics , I can remember when recombinant DNA technology first came on the scene, and people were absolutely appalled at the prospect of "creating" what I suppose you could call "forms of life." Yet I myself ended up being a close beneficiary of this tecnology.

genome encodes all the genetic information necessary to create a new , unique, adult human individual. Conception is also what initiates the complex and mysterious series of biological events that characterize embryonic development and that culminate in the creation of a living, human individual.

If you use the (I think, faulty) analogy that only God can create life, then you might as well say that humans should not be able to do anything besides exist. If you believe in God or some higher power, then you have to believe, or at least I do, that we were given brains for important reasons, those reasons including to help our fellow humans by curing diseases and making food abundant and so forth.

I reckon that our society is putting human reproduction under the microscope. For many, the idea that we are taking something away from people in a very personal sense and turning it into something very clinical and scientific is very very difficult. Looking at the new technologies I think we have to be aware tha these innovations can move ahead faster than our ability to cope with the emotional implications and sometimes move ahead faster than our understanding of the science which can help us to work out the ethics of what we should or perhaps should not be doing.

Some topics in this essay:
, Law Gospel, embryo property, vitro fertilisation, vitro embryo, ivf treatment, move ahead faster, human individual, childless couples, ivf baby, move ahead, fit society, don't fit,