Fertility Treatment Controversies
Elizabeth Adney is a 66 year-old woman who is 8 months pregnant. It was In Vitro Fertilization that allowed her to carry this child, and when she gives birth in a month she will be the oldest mother in history. For some, this has drawn harsh criticism and for others, congratulations. Fertility treatments have brought hope to many women and couples around the world, who thought that pregnancy was otherwise impossible but it still remains very controversial.
In Vitro fertilization is one of the most popular and costly fertility treatments yet it yields successful results. Basically, the eggs of a woman are removed from the ovaries and are fertilized by the partner’s sperm in a Petri dish or test tube. Once the eggs have been fertilized they are planted into the woman’s uterus. Women who have a history of miscarriage, premature births, still births or suffer from other obstetrical complications resulting in infertility or other problems with pregnancy tend to have multiple embryos implanted for ensured results. However, this is where some major polemic issues arise.
The birth of the first test tube baby, Louis Joy Borwn in Great Britain, was a major advance in the medical world and it gave hope to many women who were struggling to become pregnant naturally. However, despite the success of these test tube babies, over the years doctors have taken this scientific miracle and have used it inappropriately in many cases. Some controversies include unnecessary fertilization which results in multiple births such as in the Nadya Suleman case, administration errors such as the insemination of a woman with another couple’s child and the insemination of older women.
In the case of Nadya Suleman, she is a single mother who conceived every single one of her six pregnancies, one resulting in twins and the latest pregnancy resulting in octuplets, through in vitro fertilization. She has come under a lot of scrutiny considering she has little economic income, has no significant other to help her and has been viewed as an opportunist through pregnancy, which the American public despises. The controversy regarding her last pregnancy revolves around the issue of whether her doctor misused his power of giving artificial life in order for a healthy woman, obviously incapable of supporting her children, this delicate and potentially dangerous procedure.
Another problem with artificial insemination is the possibility of mixing up the embryos. Although this rarely happens, at times there are administrative errors. One such case of mistaken embryos occurred in New York. The Rogers’ fertilized embryo was mistakenly implanted into a Caucasian woman’s uterus. If not for the race of the baby (African American), this case may have gone under the radar. Nevertheless, once the embryo’s identity was identified as the Rogers’ child after birth, they were eventually granted custody of the child and won a major law suit against the fertility clinic’s grave error. By committing an administrative error such as this, a whole slew of problems are created. Women who cannot conceive naturally are still afforded the opportunity of a natural birthing process via in vitro. Although the Rogers’ were able to conceive a child, their child was conceived without their knowledge, by another woman and took away Mrs. Rogers’ chance of giving birth to their child.
One of the most polemic issues that surrounds In Vitro Fertilization is the fact that women who have already gone through menopause are still becoming pregnant and giving birth. Elizabeth Adney, the 66 year old pregnant woman is a prime example. Some view that the insemination of women who are in their 50s and 60s is in direct violation of the Hippocratic Oath that doctor’s take. It is a known fact that the older a woman is, the more risks she will have for herself and the child during the pregnancy and childbirth. Also, the biologic clock has stopped running essentially for these women which is the reason why they have gone through menopause. Therefore, the doctors who inseminate these women do not seem to have the best intentions of these older women in mind. In addition, In Vitro often causes multiple births, usually resulting in twins. A sixty year old woman giving birth to one child can be life threatening and now, the issue arises that this woman could have the possibility of giving birth to twins.
On the other hand, women are now having the luxury of having full time, successful careers and can put off child birth. Women, who were not so lucky in love the first time around, are getting remarried in their 40s and 50s and truly want to consummate their relationship with a child. Science and in vitro fertilization makes this all possible. So the question is should potential happiness outweigh the risks and dangers that these women may sustain while carrying a child in the latter part of their life? It is certainly an ethical question that many doctor’s and women need to have in consideration. If the mother does not survive, who is at fault? Mother nature already confirmed that this woman’s child giving days were over, yet science overruled that decision and it resulted in her death. Nevertheless, there have been many wonderful success stories of older women finally having a child who promote childbirth after menopause. This is clearly a rhetorical question in regards to happiness, health and science.
