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Definitions | Issues | Case Studies | Ethical Responses | Christian Responses | Resources | Books | Links | Multimedia | In the News | Quizzes | Exam questions
Definitions | Issues | Case Studies | Ethical Responses | Christian Responses | Resources | Books | Links | Multimedia | In the News | Quizzes | Exam questions
Definitions | Issues | Case Studies | Ethical Responses | Christian Responses | Resources | Books | Links | Multimedia | In the News | Quizzes | Exam questions
Definitions | Issues | Case Studies | Ethical Responses | Christian Responses | Resources | Books | Links | Multimedia | In the News | Quizzes | Exam questions
Definitions | Issues | Case Studies | Ethical Responses | Christian Responses | Resources | Books | Links | Multimedia | In the News | Quizzes | Exam questions
Definitions | Issues | Case Studies | Ethical Responses | Christian Responses | Resources | Books | Links | Multimedia | In the News | Quizzes | Exam questions
Definitions | Issues | Case Studies | Ethical Responses | Christian Responses | Resources | Books | Links | Multimedia | In the News | Quizzes | Exam questions
Definitions | Issues | Case Studies | Ethical Responses | Christian Responses | Resources | Books | Links | Multimedia | In the News | Quizzes | Exam questions

Issues raised by the Right to a Child

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A recent BBC documentary series called 'A chlld against all odds' looked at a number of cases of couples trying to have children, and examined many of the issues surrounding IVF, PGD, sperm and egg donation etc. In 2005, a BBC drama tackled similar themes in the excellent Family Man. For useful summaries of the issues raised by infertility treatments, look at:

Moral issues raised by AI
Moral issues raised by IVF
Moral issues raised by surrogacy

Remeber to look at the case studies! For more on some of these issues, read on:

Which infertility treatments are ethical?

Many people, including the Catholic Church, believe that an embryo should be treated as a human being from the moment of conception. They therefore believe that any infertility treatments that lead to the destruction of embryos are unethical. Technically, IVF is possible without the production of, and therefore destruction of, extra embryos. However, the development of the treatment has involved destroying many embryos, which is why some people reject IVF as an option.

For others, the involvement of a donor is unacceptable. They may see it as an attack on the sanctity of marriage. Others consider the possible complications later, and the effects on donor, child and parents, to outweigh the benefits. They may support artificial insemination by the husband, or IVF involving the husband's sperm and the wife's eggs.

In some cases, procedures are less effective or have greater risks. IVF is effective in less than one in four cases, and some procedures are much less effective than this. There are many who see infertility treatments as a bad choice for childless couples simply because of the length of the process, the amount of anguish involved, and the relatively low chance of success.

Consent

When conception arrives as a result of sexual intercourse, the issue of consent is relatively simple - at the time of intercourse, were did both couples consent to the act of sex with an awareness that a child may result? Infertility treatments allow doctors to bring about conception months or years later without an act of intercourse. This has led to a number of interesting cases.

What if a man dies and a woman wants to freeze his sperm to use at a later date to have children? What if a couple go through IVF and then split up, and the husband no longer wants to father a child? What about the possibility of using eggs from aborted foetuses for IVF?

Surrogacy isn't strictly an infertility treatment, but it is an option for a childless couple. In England, the surrogate mother has most of the rights - even if the egg and sperm come from the childless couple, the surrogate mother can keep the baby when it is born.

Payment

You can buy eggs and sperm over the internet, and prices go up to tens of thousands. In the UK, a surrigate mother can only have her expenses paid, but in California, childless couples may pay $50,000 for a surrogate to carry their child.

IVF in the UK costs around £5,000 per attempt, although this does vary. It is only rarely paid for by the NHS. Should IVF be freely available? One possibility, which raises other ethical questions, is that a woman can donate some of the eggs produced through IVF to pay for the treatment.

PGD

Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis is sometimes used in IVF when several embryos are produced. It involves removing a cell from an early embryo (one with 8 or 16 cells) and checking for an inherited condition. PGD could be used to check for gender or any genetic trait - however, in the UK it is only allowed to be used to check for untreatable genetic disorders.

When a disorder is found, the embryo can then be discarded and a 'healthy' embryo implanted. Tabloid nespapers often report PGD as making 'designer babies'. This is not accurate, as the embryos implanted were not designed in any way. However, as PGD involves destroying embryos because they have disabilities, many people have concerns about the status this gives to people with disabilites.

There are also ethical concerns about the destruction of embryos, but this happens in almost all IVF.

Further information, and more issues, on the BBC's website.

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