Problematic New Developments
In the meantime, in vitro fertilization has developed into a complex and even controversial issue, because its application has gone well beyond its original use. For example, using the egg of younger women, the technique has been employed to help much older women get pregnant who then became mothers well after their menopause or even as "senior citizens". Similarly, some women were implanted with the fertilized eggs of other women and thus served as
"surrogate mothers" or "host mothers" for the duration of their pregnancy. They then had to hand over the newborn baby to the "guests" who had paid them for 9 months of "uterus rent". Indeed, in some cases such arrangements have resulted in law suits and personal tragedies. There have also been female
"egg donors", i.e. women who donated their eggs to infertile women who had them first fertilized by their husband's sperm and then implanted in their own bodies. Indeed, modern reproductive technology has opened up many other possibilities. For example, there are now several methods of pre-selecting the sex of a baby. This has become possible through methods of
preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). While this sounds harmless enough in theory and for an individual couple, it can, if used more widely, have very negative consequences for society as a whole. However, the medical, legal, psychological and social problems arising from these recent and possible future developments (for example "cloning") cannot be discussed in sufficient detail in the present course. |
