Risks of birth defects in IVF : Moral Issues

Abstract

For the last three to four decades the issue of in vitro fertilisation has been on the forefront of medical science. This procedure is giving new hope to mothers/couples suffering from infertility problems following Louise Joy Brown's birth in 1978 after being conceived through IVF. From that year onwards: physicians, scientists and medical experts have worked tirelessly to try and make this procedure successful as possible. The problem is that while the procedure can be successful because a baby is born after being conceived through IVF, there are several new born who are born with birth defects which in certain cases are also life threatening. Furthermore, there are millions of eggs which are being fertilised but not implanted in a woman's uterus and they are either frozen or discarded which is resulting in the death of millions of human embryos. In this dissertation different points are tackled through various sources and literature reviews about the subject. After a brief introduction about the procedure of in vitro fertilisation, Chapter 1 focuses on birth defects that new born can be born with after conception through IVF. This leads to Chapter 2 where the focus is shifted on the mother/couple undergoing IVF treatment and what are the complications and problems that they can face. Certainly, the decision of a couple to opt for IVF should be a well-informed one and should be taken after assessing all the positives and negatives of this procedure. Ethical problems are surely faced by the couple and the need of regulations on IVF is a must in every country where this procedure is permissible. All these points are discussed at length in Chapter 3. In the concluding chapter, the need of counselling in all situations of infertility is discussed and alternatives to IVF are pointed out. Although every case of infertility should be tackled on its own, there must be a Law which regulates IVF in· every country and the human embryo must be respected in all ways and means from the moment of conception.