Considering IVF?

Not all our fertilized eggs (embryos) were used; some were frozen and stored. Must they be retained, or may they be disposed of?

 This is but one of many weighty moral/ethical issues that couples face if they choose to submit to in vitro fertilization (IVF). Each couple is responsible for their decision.

In 1978 a woman in England became the first to bear what many called a test-tube baby. She had not been able to conceive because her Fallopian tubes were blocked, not allowing sperm to meet with her egg(s). Medical personnel surgically harvested a mature egg from her, placed it in a glass dish, and fertilized it with her husband’s sperm. The resulting embryo was allowed to develop in nutrients and then inserted into her womb, where it implanted. In time, she had a baby girl. The procedure, and variations of it, came to be called in vitro (in glass) fertilization, or IVF.

While details may vary from country to country, generally IVF involves the following: The wife is given potent fertility drugs for weeks to stimulate her ovaries to produce numerous eggs. The husband may be asked to provide fresh sperm by masturbation. The eggs and washed sperm are combined in the laboratory. Multiple eggs may get fertilized and begin to divide, becoming human embryos. After a day or so, these nascent embryos are carefully examined in an effort to distinguish between any that are defective and those that seem to be healthy and most likely to implant and develop. About the third day, it is common to transfer into the wife’s womb not one but two or three of the best embryos so as to increase the chance of a pregnancy. If one or more implant, she is pregnant, and it is expected that she will in time give birth.

But what of embryos that were not transferred, including ones that appeared less healthy or even  defective? If left alone, those excess embryos would soon cease to be viable. Before that occurs, the extra embryos may be frozen in liquid nitrogen. Why? If the first IVF attempt failed, some of those reserve embryos could be used in a subsequent IVF cycle at a lower cost. However, for some, this raises ethical issues. Many struggle to decide what to do with their frozen embryos. They may not want more children. The parents’ ages or finances may not favor another attempt. They may fear the risks associated with a multiple pregnancy. Or the death or remarriage of one or both mates may complicate things. Yes, concerns abound, and as a result, some couples keep paying storage fees for years.

Embryologists have noted that many patients were genuinely torn about what to do with the extra embryos. Embryos can remain viable for a decade or more if they are frozen properly but not all of them survive when they are thawed.” That latter fact gives some reason to pause and consider. Why?

Couples who face issues raised by IVF may well reflect on the implications of a different medical situation. A partner might have to decide what to do about a loved one who is in a terminal situation and who is being sustained by artificial life support, such as a ventilator to keep breathing. In some situations, though, life-support technology is the only thing sustaining a loved one. Family members must decide whether to continue or to discontinue that artificial life support.

True, that is not the same as the situation faced by a couple who employed IVF and now have stored embryos. But one option that may be offered to them is that of removing the embryos from the nitrogen freezer, allowing them to thaw. Without the artificial environment of the freezer, the embryos would soon deteriorate to the point of no longer being viable. The couple have to decide whether they will permit that. 

Because a couple submitted to IVF to achieve pregnancy and hopefully have a baby, they might choose to bear the cost of keeping their reserve embryos frozen or they might choose to use them in a future IVF attempt to have a child. However, another couple might decide that they can stop the maintenance of the frozen embryos, viewing them as being kept viable only by artificial means. For many couples, it seems there is no good decision.

Clearly, couples considering IVF should evaluate all the serious implications of this technology. 

OTHER IVF PROCEDURES

The development of IVF opened the way to other procedures. For example, a woman’s eggs might be fertilized with sperm from a man who is not her husband. She might then allow the resulting embryos to be implanted in her (Lesbian couples sometimes resort to this procedure). Or a husband’s sperm might be used to fertilize the eggs from a woman who is not his wife. The husband’s wife might then allow the resulting embryos to be implanted in her.

In a variation that some term “embryo adoption,” the embryos placed in a wife’s womb involve neither her eggs nor her husband’s sperm. In yet another variation, a married couple’s eggs and sperm are fertilized outside the womb by IVF. The resulting embryos are then implanted in the womb of a surrogate, a woman who carries the baby and delivers it for them.



Sofía Vergara and her Ex Nick Loeb are presently in court on IVF related issues.

Whatever decisions made, i have to agree with many who says there seems to be no good decisions.

I wish couples trying to conceive the very best and for those who made it CONGRATULATIONS!