In Vitro Fertilization

In the biology class I am taking this semester we have been talking about different ways that couples deal with infertility. In my lab discussion there was a heated argument over whether IFV is ethical. In Vitro Fertilization is IVF, a laboratory procedure in which sperm are placed with an unfertilized egg in a Petri dish to achieve fertilization. The embryo is then transferred into the uterus to begin a pregnancy or cyropreserved (frozen) for future use. In Vitro Fertilization literally means "Fertilization in Glass". A child born by in vitro fertilization is inaccurately known a "test tube baby” which has become a common nickname for the procedure. There are many ethical implications to this procedure that have caused for quite the conflict within society. Pros of the issue including it helps infertile couples have the chance to conceive a child, it can help to prevent birth defects, it has had good success rates with some even being too effective, with women giving birth to twins, triplets, or even more babies and it is a fairly safe procedure overall. There are cons to IFV as well which include the possibility of malformed babies, possible social concerns from others, couples being very disappointed and depressed after they have tried many methods but once again fail, it is a rather invasive procedure, and some pain is associated with the process of removing the woman’s eggs and there is a surgical procedure involved.
The specific ethical issue that caught spite was if IFV creates a real human being. There are definitely two sides to the ethical issue of whether an in vitro fertilized baby is a real human being and if they should be treated as normal human beings. I personally believe IFV will become more prevalent as time goes on and is definitely an option some infertile couple should consider but I will argue against myself here and then show my side as well. On one hand IFV babies create non-traditional families where the baby isn’t created naturally but in a petri-dish. It could be said that it destroys social structure by letting babies be produced un-naturally. It would be the end of the nuclear family, with marriage replaced by laboratory breeding. It would be the creation of all sorts of non-traditional families from the conservative view. From the religious point of view of the Catholics, they state that it is inherently wrong because it is unnatural. They believe life starts when the egg and sperm meet and when it is done unnaturally it isn’t a real human being. On the other hand though, what is a normal family these days? An in vitro fertilized baby is still going to eat, breathe and sleep like a regular baby that was conceived. It is still going to have a soul and grow up like a normal baby who was conceived without help by a doctor. IFV babies that have already been born haven’t been shunned as much as people thought they would by society in fact there weren’t many problems reported at all. It is a new technology and once people get use to the idea of it and become more accustomed to it, it will more accepted by society as seen so far. Anything new is going to be treated as hesitant by part of society, but as time goes on society will realize it isn’t that big of a deal and it will become more of a mainstream procedure and become a part of daily life.