A Question of Morality-- IVF?

There are many conservative religious groups that speak out against abortion and stem cell research, but none (to my knowledge) that speak out against in-vitro fertilization. IVF has a failure rate of over 50%-- that means half of the embryos created will die somewhere along the way. My question is this-- if life is considered to have begun at the moment of fertilization, how can we continue to condone a procedure that would result in over half of the fertilized embryos dying? I know some will respond that IVF is trying to create life, but stem cell research is trying to save lives, and religious conservatives condemn that because of the death of fertilized embryos. Is there some hypocrisy here?

Answers:
If a woman has a miscarriage, is she committing murder?
Think of it this way. A normal, fertile woman will have 12 cycles a year, resulting in 12 eggs. If she gets pregnant, there is about a 25% chance that the pregnancy will not be viable due to genetic, developmental, or chemical reasons that are beyond the mother's control, ending in a miscarriage. This statistic doesn't even include the number of fertilized eggs that do not implant at all or result in an etopic. Also remember that most miscarriages occur before a woman even misses a period. A normal woman's chances of getting pregnant in any given cycle is only 20-40%. So, you could say the failure rate of normal pregnancy is 60-80%.
In IVF, as many as 20 unfertilized eggs will be extracted at once due to the hyperstimulation that is required of IVF. That is almost 2 YEARS of unfertilized eggs. So, statistically, yes, about 50% would not be viable. To increase the chances of success, doctors do not transfer embryos that have stopped developing. If they stop developing at that stage, they are not going to develop into a fetus, ask any doctor. So, obviously, they don't want to try and transfer a embryo that is obviously not going to implant or develop. These are the embyros that would have ended in a miscarriage.
These people are not committing murder because they are doing IVF. Its natural selection, things we can't control. If we could control for all the factors that may spontaneously abort a fetus, than yes, IVF success rates would be higher. Believe it or not, doctors are trying their best.
So, I dare you to confront a woman who has experienced a miscarriage, point at her, and call her a murderer. Because essentially, that's what you just did to all the women who get IVF.

Other Answers:
No , there isnt, the "death" of the fertilized embryos in stem cell research is intentional, they are being killed, it is an action that reuires intent. The death of the embryos in ivf is just a natural process, they dont attatch to the lining, any excess embryos can be saved to implant later, donated to someone else, or whatever the owner chooses.

I do agree that there is definitely some hypocrusy going on but you can't change the minds of conservatives. They seem to be a bit close minded and I think that no amount of rationalizing will change that.

The Catholic Church specifically prohibits IVF, sadly.

Yes, the failure rate is over 50 percent. But so is the failure rate for the "old fashioned" way of getting pregnant. Nature decides whether a given embryo is strong enough to make it, and the uterous refuses to implant a lot of fertilized eggs. The difference is that with IVF we know the egg has been fertilized, because it is not placed back in the woman unless fertilization has occurred. In the normal case, the woman just gets her period and never realizes that the egg had been fertilized.

In other words, there is nothing in IVF that needs condoning, unless you believe that it is better for childless couples to remain childless.

The only issue I see is what happens to fertilized eggs that are not implanted. But many IVF centers have the right answer, as far as I'm concerned: they only fertilize some eggs. If the woman produces 10 eggs, they will fertilize only two or three, and then implant only those. Anything fertilized goes to the uterous, just like in normal conception.

I agree with the person who wrote the question 100%!!! I often hear couples who have invitro help to conceive and then they go around saying that they thank "God" for the fact that they had a baby!!! It's just another reason for me to laugh at a the religious robots who can not think for themselves!

Religious groups are hypocrites...they aren't condoning IVF either.

More Questions & Answers...

The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition.

A Question of Morality-- IVF?

Pregnancy & Parenting