In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) has been a topic for decades, it has the ultimate purpose of helping sperm cells and ovum fertilize and bypass problems in women/men’s reproductive system. Its history can recall all the way back to 1890s, after generations of development the first case of a successful pregnancy was reported in 1973 by Monarch Research Team, however this resulted miscarriage. Up until today, IVF technology is relatively mature is accessible to the majority. (IVF Worldwide,2008) This technology is absolutely conventional as it makes having a baby possible to women who have blocked/damaged/removed fallopian tubes, ovulation disorders, premature ovarian failure or men who have decreased sperm count or sperm motility. (APA, 2018)
IVF relies on eggs from the mother, sperm samples from the father and chamber for fertilization. The first step to stimulate and prescribe the egg condition as some eggs are unable to fertilize after retrieval. If the eggs are ready to be retrieved, the mother then goes through a surgery of a hollow needle through the pelvic cavity to remove the egg. The second step is for the male to produce a semen sample, prepared to be combined with the egg. The third step is for the sperm to fertilize the egg when there is a failure during the process, an intracytoplasmic injection might be used, which injects a single sperm directly to the egg to attempt fertilization. After the egg is confirmed fertilized, it will be considered as an embryo and ready for transfer in around 3-5 days. The embryo is transferred to women’s uterus through a tube and regular pregnancy will occur.
This process increases the chance of pregnancy to people with damaged fallopian tubes, other ovary disorders or men with little sperm count/sperm motility, as the sperms have a much higher chance of fertilizing the ovum. This also makes it possible for the embryo to grow inside someone else’s uterus instead of its genetical mother. It is massive for those mothers who are old or has special body conditions as it is extremely difficult for them to serve enough nutrition or give birth to the embryo. The effectiveness of IVF varies highly on the condition of sperm and ovum cell, which is dependent with the parents, age is an important factor(attainfertility, 2018), the average chance of success using IVF is 40% for women under the age of 35 years old, but only a 4% success chance for women above age 42. Other factors that alter the success chance are lifestyle habits, previous pregnancy, type of fertility problem etc.(FTA, 2018)
There are many other methods to assist fertility, so example preimplantation genetic diagnosis, intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection, comparative genomic hybridization, and cryopreservation intra-uterine insemination, most of them are additional methods to help improve the success chance of successful fertilization, and can be performed together with IVF.(APA, 2018) (Pittof, RU, 1996)The advantages of IVF are that it bypasses women’s fallopian tube issues, it confirms successful fertilization instead of being unknown, it also reduces the chance of embryo having problems such as Down’s Syndrome or Cystic Fibrosis. However there are also many obvious disadvantages, for example, it does not grant 100% pregnancy chance, it also comes with the risk infection, anesthetic risks, and hemorrhage.(Fertility Solutions, 2018) There is also a 5% occurrence chance of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and has a ⅕ chance to be severe. The transfer of embryo is also a tricky process that can possibly be executed wrongly(transferred into other organs) if such scenario happens immediate surgery needs to be performed to prevent a life-threatening situation.(Fertility Solutions, 2018)
What is very interesting is the argument of leftover embryos. During IVF, multiple ova are retrieved from the ovary, to ensure at least one successful fertilization. However, on some occasions, there are more embryos that successfully formed then the number wanted by the parents. Note that this usually does not occur during regular reproduction methods, but only became a problem when IVF is used. This brings a moral conflict of whether the embryos should be considered a human or not? And if they are, what treatment should they receive after being ditched by their biological parents? According to the law, the parents receiving IVF are considered parents of the embryo as if they were living children, and they have the responsibility take care of them.(Margolick, David 1984) There are multiple ways of treating the leftover embryos, and the parents get to decide their fate. The embryos can be saved up for a future cycle, and be ready when the couple decides to have another baby. Or they will be donated to other people who are struggling to produce an embryo, this is considered as an adoption because the child came from another family. There are also times when the embryos never get to be born when they are being donated to scientific researches, which can possibly help hundreds of others a chance of life, however laws and current research needs will limit this option, and the rest gets thawed and disposed of by the clinic, and given back to the parents for them to perform ceremony to mark the passing of the embryos. For the most part, the embryos are treated as a human child, not animals or an object.(Gurevich, Rachel 2018)