Vincent Santoro February 25, 2001

Biology Honors Position Paper

With the new technology in our present day culture, In Vitro Fertilization is a practice that I believe should not be done by any person by all means. IVF conflicts with the process of nature by bringing the sperm and egg together in an un-natural way, in a glass. Along with the un-natural aspects of IVF, there are many instances were this form of impregnation conflicts with moral, ethical and legal battles that may led to many problems between the different thoughts of people. IVF may also create a race of people who are genetically selected to be perfect which is completely abnormal and conflicts with many beliefs.

Firstly, I believe that a person should not be able to perform artificial insemination because the real genetic parents of the child are the persons’ whose egg and sperm are being donated. So, when this happens, the donors may want the child to be theirs because they were created from their sex cells. If this practice does happen however, I believe that if a couple is divorced, the sterile man should be completely relieved of child support and financial responsibility. However, if the man does deny the financial responsibility he should not be able to be granted visitation rights.

With IVF, the possibility comes up that a single person may want to use the technology to have a child. I think this is wrong. I believe a child would have difficulty growing up in an environment where there is only one parent figure, and the child should never be deliberately put into a situation like this.

The next subject is the possibility of having a homosexual couple using IVF to have a child. This is beyond wrong. That statement is based on my religious beliefs and may vary from person to person, however, I think that because, in nature, there is no remote possibility that two same sex creatures- mammals- could have a baby. So with this, why try to defy nature and put the child in an environment were a homosexual couple has a child.

When IVF is done, the doctors performing this procedure normally use 8 embryos, 4 for the first try and 4 frozen in case a second try is necessary. Now, if the procedure is successful, I believe that the embryos should be disposed of properly and not be kept frozen. And I also believe that the embryo has no rights. For the situation in which the couple who has this procedure done happens to get divorced, I think that they should neither be given legal custody of the embryo unless otherwise wished by a member of the couple. I also think it is foolish that a frozen embryo should inherit the estate of the couple who created them. I say this because if they wanted them to inherit their estate, they shouldn’t have of frozen them.

About the topic of surrogate mothers, I personally think they shouldn’t even exist, I say this because if someone is un-fertile or sterile, there is a reason for this, so why have someone go through the carrying of the baby and not get the baby in return. If this process of having a surrogate mother carries the baby, then they should not be paid at all. I say this because if they need to be paid to carry the baby, and then they must not care about nothing more than money. In the case of the surrogate mother consumes alcohol or does drugs then it just adds to the reason why they shouldn’t even exist in the first place. If the surrogate mother decides to have an abortion then it is her choice and if any money was taken for the process, it should be paid back in full. If the baby ends up having any mental or physical disabilities, then the parents should still have to keep the baby regardless of how the baby turn out.

As for the possibility of the use of embryos for further experimentation in new reproductive purposes, I think it should not be considered unless there is permission from both genetic parents and as long as they have to responsibilities towards the child in case of a birth.

With the new possibilities associated with IVF, I think the most appalling besides homosexual couples using IVF is the practice of having postmenopausal women impregnated through the new technology. This is because of two reasons, firstly is the situation the child is put in because of having a mother and/or father who are very elder raise a young child, because of the possibility they won’t be around for a very long time. Secondly is that these postmenopausal women already had their chance to be impregnated for many years, and they should have of used there time wisely and they wouldn’t be in the situation in the first place.

What is also appalling to me is the use of IVF for genetically selecting the sex, health, intelligence and beauty of a child. This again is the entire concept of using technology to try to defy nature. A child should be born for the purpose of being able to raise your own son or daughter for who they are, not what they were made from.

Ultimately, this new procedure, from the getting of the sperm and egg, to the micro-injection, to implantation to impregnation is a practice I do not believe in because of my ethical, moral and religious values that are based on the concept of letting nature take its course and not having the advancements in technology alter the way children were conceived from the time man was made.

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