Fertility Treatment

What is IVF?What is PGD?

Methods of Infertility TreatmentIVF (In-vitro

fertilisation): when the egg from the

woman is fertilised outside the womb using either the husband’s or a

donor’s sperm and then replaced in the

womb

AIH (Artificial Insemination by Husband):

When sperm from the husband is inserted into his wife by

mechanically means.AID (Artificial Insemination by Donor):

When sperm from a donor, other than the husband, is inserted

into the woman by mechanically means.Egg Donation:

When an egg is donated by another woman,

fertilised using IVF by the husband’s sperm and then placed in the wife’s womb.

Embryo Donation:When both egg and sperm from donors are fertilised using

IVF and the inserted into the woman’s

womb.

Surrogacy:When the egg and sperm of a couple are fertilised by IVF then

placed in another woman’s womb. Or, the sperm of a husband is artificially inseminated into another woman to have the baby for them. The baby is

handed over at birth.

All methods of fertility treatment and cases of experimentation in the UK are monitored by

the Human Fertilisation

and Embryology Authority

H F E A

Infertility can effect anyone.

Patricia Rashbrooke had a baby at 62 using IVF

What is your view and why?

Think of one argument for and one argument against

Miracle IVF twins Bailey and Megan Orrells were born a record-

breaking four years apart.

What do you think a Christian would say about this?

"Her birth is incredible. There are no embryos left and it's not going to happen again. We're blessed - some -body up there is watching over us.“Mrs Orrells

Embryology for and against.• Read the statements – outline for and

against.

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PGD: Genetic testing performed prior to embryo

transfer “The debate [around PGD] has been building since the late 1980s, when doctors at London's Hammersmith Hospital learned how to tease a cell from a 3-day-old embryo and study its chromosomes for gender.”(Zitner 2002) • Adds $2000 to IVF

• Reduces rate of miscarriages from 23% to 10%• Does not increase chance of pregnancy

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Commonly, more than 100 diseases can be detected through testing, including…

• Hemophilia A• Muscular dystrophy• Tay-Sachs disease• Cystic fibrosis• Down Syndrome Removal of one cell for testing

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Viable and Desirable?“This information is helping parents choose which embryos they want--and which to reject as unhealthy, or merely undesirable.” (Zitner 2002)

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Undesirable Embryos

Disease Free Embryos

• Frozen in storage • Donated to

infertile couples• Donated to stem

cell research/usage

Disease Carrying Embryos

• Donated to research

• Discarded

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Rights EthicsEthics: The issues at hand…

… weighing the goal of pregnancy and live birth against the medical and moral risks of multiple gestation.

…using PGD inherently makes assumptions about the quality of life, challenging basic tenets of society such as equality.

Care Ethics

Utilitarianism

…requires society to make a decision on when life begins.

World Views

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• Address the suffering of the mother due to her inability to have a child “naturally”

• “When having children, people…often roll the genetic dice and hope for the best. With embryo sorting, "they can start their pregnancy on Day One with a commitment to continuing it."

(Zitner 2002)

• PGD can save parents massive heartbreak and financial strain

Ethics• Address the view of the potential

child– Will the child have adequate support

and a stable home?– If there are multiple fetuses, will the

children receive adequate care/attention?

• “[PGD has] the goal of stopping deadly genetic diseases such as Tay-Sachs and Huntington’s. This research has growing support because it can save children from enormous suffering and early death.”

(Wagner 2003)

Some ethicists would be in favor of IVF and PGD as long as the decision is loving and promotes positive relationships.

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Rights Based Ethics

Based on John Locke’s principles, all people have the right (in America) to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

• What becomes of the idea that everyone is created equal if you start designing children?

• Loss of autonomy because of a necessity to be competitive in society

• Inherently discriminatory; makes assumptions about quality of life"Most people with disabilities rate their quality of life as much higher than other people think. People make the decision [to reject embryos] based on a prejudice that having a disability means having a low quality of life.“

Embryos are mass-produced, screened, discarded and used in experiments: are they products or people with rights?

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Utilitarianism

• The alleviation of suffering for many is important. – IVF helps many infertile couples

achieve a life-long dream of having a child.

– PGD helps those same couples reach their goal of a disease free child.

• A disease free society is preferable for all members.

The greatest good for the greatest number suggests that…

International Policies on PGD•Banned PGD for ALL usages

• Used to select child’s gender only when there is medical need

• Clinics set policies; no federal or state restrictions

Therapeutic Cloning

– Therapeutic cloning is taking genetic material out of an embryo and replacing it with DNA from another individual. The embryo is used to develop stem cells then destroyed. This could be used to create replacement organs which the body would recognise as its own.

• Benefits include the possibility of improving the human race and affecting the way our evolution progresses, allowing infertile couples to have biological children, a method to allow experimentation on life threatening illnesses.

• In therapeutic cloning an embryo is not implanted into the womb of a woman. Instead, stem cells are removed after the embryo starts dividing in the first 14 days after fertilization. This kills the embryo.

• Stem cells have the ability to reproduce and become one of many types of cells including skin, liver cell, hair or blood cells. These cells are then used to grow the type of tissue or organ that is needed. They are genetically identical to the patient who donated it, eliminating the problem of organ or tissue rejection. At present, if someone has an organ transplant, their body could reject the donated organ.