Christian Attitudes to Fertility Treatment

1. Vocabulary Christian Attitudes to Fertility Treatment What is IVF? The Law Statistics Christianity and Fertility Worries

2. Vocabulary (1) Fertilisation The union of sperm and ovum (egg) To introduce sperm (in)to an ovum (egg) Insemination Artificial Insemination Insemination by Artificial means

3. Vocabulary (2) IVF In Vitro Fertilisation AID Artificial Insemination Donor AIH Artificial Insemination Husband ICSI Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection. Test Tube Baby A baby who was conceived by Artificial Insemination

4. Vocabulary (3)(advanced) gamete The correct term for either the sperm or the egg The correct term for the fertilised cell zygote

5. What is IVF? (1) • There are several different techniques, but the main process involves the women taking fertility drugs to help her produce more eggs. • The eggs are then harvested and fertilised in the laboratory. • The woman is given hormone drugs to prepare her womb to receive the fertilised eggs. • The fertilised eggs are placed inside the womb and a normal pregnancy follows. What is IVF (1) What is IVF (2) What is IVF (3)

6. What is IVF (1) What is IVF (2) What is IVF (3) What is IVF? (2)

7. What is IVF?(3)ICSI c.f.sperm being injected into an egg. What is IVF (1) What is IVF (2) What is IVF (3)

8. The Law • 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act. • You are not allowed to place a non-human embryo inside a human. • You are not allowed to place a human embryo inside an animal. • You are not allowed to place animal sperm or egg inside a human. • You are not allowed to keep an embryo after the primitive streak is visible (14 days after fertilisation).

9. Statistics (1) IVF was developed in the 1970s. The first British test tube baby was Louise Brown, who was born in 1978. Around 6,000 babies a year are born in the UK to otherwise infertile couples as a result of in vitro fertilisation.

10. Statistics (2) • IVF is only successful in 15% of cases and a recent report from the College of Health shows that success rates vary widely across the country. Only 18% of IVF treatment is funded by the NHS and waiting times can differ greatly. It can cost up to £2,000 per cycle for a couple to go private. Most couples have three cycles at an average cost of £3,420. (2007)

11. Christianity and Fertility Catholics Methodists Generally ‘Against’ Generally ‘For’ More More

12. Catholics and Fertility Treatment The Roman Catholic Church is opposed to in vitro fertilisation in all instances and advocates that infertility as a call from God to adopt children. It "infringes the child's right to be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by marriage. Also, embryos are discarded in the process, causing them to die. Catholics and many people of other faiths see embryos as human lives with the same rights as all others and, therefore, view this procedure as always unacceptable.* (see teachers’ note under slide)

13. Methodists and Fertility Treatment The Methodist Church has supported the scientific judgment that remedies for human infertility, and for certain genetic diseases and handicaps, would be greatly assisted if research on embryos not required for artificial insemination continues to be carried out. However, research should be restricted to the first fourteen days; in addition, embryos should not be brought into being specifically for research purposes.

14. Worries • A possible drawback is the fact that IVF treatment increases the chance of having multiple births which the couple may not have planned for. 25% of women who undergo fertility treatment give birth to more than one child. This figure is 23% above women who do not have fertility treatment With only a 15% success rate some doctors argue that it can be a traumatic experience to go through repeated IVF attempts, only to find that the woman does not get pregnant.