IVF headlines this week only further advance my position that we should have never taken the embryo out of the womb. For example:

It allows doctors like Michael Kamrava, of Octumom fame to be touted as “distinguished” and to be only given a slap on the hand for his recklessness in transferring six embryos (two twinned resulting in eight live births) into Nadya Suleman. Kamrava was “expelled from the professional body” of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine for ignoring their meaningless guidelines on the number of embryos to implant.

It reminds us that IVF technology fueled right into the embryonic stem cell debates and human cloning and opened the door to exploiting women for their eggs. Think Dr. Hwang in South Korea who abused women for eggs for his fraudulent stem cell research. Hwang was just convicted for fabrication of his research studies, but will not face jail time, only probation.

It holds “reproductive choice” up so that stories like this are more and more common place:
An Australian woman, who attracted media attention in 2005 after giving birth to a second set of quadruplets, has given birth again to a set of twins. According to the newspaper, The Australian, Mrs Chalk, 31, has had eleven children conceived using an anonymous sperm donor and artificial insemination, although there are conflicting reports that she may have undergone IVF (in vitro fertilisation). The treatment was given at a private clinic in Queensland.


Author Profile

Jennifer Lahl, CBC Founder
Jennifer Lahl, CBC Founder
Jennifer Lahl, MA, BSN, RN, is founder and president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. Lahl couples her 25 years of experience as a pediatric critical care nurse, a hospital administrator, and a senior-level nursing manager with a deep passion to speak for those who have no voice. Lahl’s writings have appeared in various publications including Cambridge University Press, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News, and the American Journal of Bioethics. As a field expert, she is routinely interviewed on radio and television including ABC, CBS, PBS, and NPR. She is also called upon to speak alongside lawmakers and members of the scientific community, even being invited to speak to members of the European Parliament in Brussels to address issues of egg trafficking; she has three times addressed the United Nations during the Commission on the Status of Women on egg and womb trafficking.