Topic > Essay on in vitro fertilization procedures - 1215

The use of in vitro fertilization procedures raises a series of ethical questions, starting from those linked to the origin of the egg and sperm, to those relating to the fate and the number of embryos. One of the major ethical concerns of this procedure is the origin of the egg. As mentioned above, during IVF treatment, the collected eggs are combined with sperm for fertilization. One of the main arguments is the fact that fertilization occurs outside the body without any emotional-physical union between couples. Since only physical appearance is taken into consideration in reproduction, most people against it saw this process of conception as unnatural and a threat to the family unit. Most religious groups hold this view. The Catholic Church, for example, maintains that only God is the center of creation; he designed the way children should be conceived and no one should alter his creation. They also refer to sex selection by doctors, which is one of the special IVF procedures, as "playing God's game." Another ethical concern is related to the subsequent treatment of the egg and embryo. The goal of the IVF procedure is to retrieve and fertilize a sufficient number of eggs to establish a good pregnancy. Very often, not all embryos are used during treatment; some are frozen for later use. Other embryos are donated, used for research, or discarded and sometimes destroyed by selective pregnancy reduction. Each of these alternatives raises a number of ethical questions. Since 1970, more than 500,000 frozen embryos are stored, with 20,000 more embryos added each year and most of them will go unused (Clark, 2009, p. 2). For some people, the destruction of these embryos constitutes an act of murder because spontaneous pregnancy loss is comparable to 2.5% of pregnancy loss following twin reduction (Mcclimans, 2009, p. 295-303). It is also important to remember that the IVF cycle is very expensive and few health insurances cover it. Therefore, limiting the number of embryo transfers may be a problem for those participants who wish to have more than one child but do not have enough money to sponsor each cycle. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2002 found that the rate of multiple pregnancies with triplets or more increases in states where the IVF procedure is not covered (RESOLVE, 2013). David Orentlcher argues that “the lack of coverage of IVF treatment constitutes unfair discrimination against infertile people.” Therefore, limiting the number of embryos should be accompanied by insurance coverage