On January 26, 2009, Nadya Suleman gave birth to the nation’s second set of octuplets. Over the course of 30 days Ms. Suleman became the subject of outrage and outrageous representations over her choice to have in vitro fertilization since she already had six children. Embedded in Suleman’s public construction and representations are subtle transcripts of race, class, and reproduction. This art...

The decision of the UK House of Commons in 2015 to endorse the use of pioneering in vitro fertilisation techniques to protect future generations from the risk of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) disease has sparked worldwide controversy and debate. The availability of such technologies could benefit women at risk of transmitting deleterious mutations. MtDNA disease certainly occurs in South Africa (SA...

Some existing laws and some proposed legislation regulating the practice of in vitro fertilization (IVF) limit its availability to infertile couples. Dawson and Singer question whether it is reasonable to so restrict access to IVF, and examine some of the medical and social circumstances in which IVF and the related procedures of embryo freezing, embryo biopsy, and embryo transfer might be use...

BACKGROUND Today in vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a widespread and important technique of reproductive medicine. When the technique was first used, it was considered ethically controversial. This is the first study conducted of adult IVF-offspring in order to learn about their ethical opinions and personal attitudes towards this medical technology. METHODS We recruited the participants from th...

About 10-15% of couples have difficulty conceiving at some point in their reproductive lives and thus have to seek specialist fertility care. One of the most commonly used treatment options is in vitro fertilization (IVF) and its related expansions. Despite many recent technological advances, the average IVF live birth rate per single initiated cycle is still only 30%. Consequently, there is a ...

The ambiguous status of unborn human life contributes to the interminability of the debate about the morality of abortion. New medical research and therapies are implying questions about the value and protectability of life in its earliest stages, to which in vitro fertilization now gives more access. This essay will address especially the interplay of scientific information about embryonic dev...

Catholicism is the only major world religion that unequivocally bans the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Nevertheless, in Ecuador, Catholic IVF practitioners declare God's dominion over their IVF laboratories and clinics in explaining pregnancy outcomes. My analysis of this routine combination of spiritual and material causal models in Ecuadorian IVF contributes to two ongoing discussions ...

This paper analyses elements of the legal process of consent to the donation of 'spare' embryos to research, including stem-cell research, and makes a recommendation intended to enhance the quality of that process, including on occasion by guarding against the invalidity of such consent. This is important in its own right and also so as to maximise the reproductive treatment options of couples ...

Surrogacy is not regulated by a single legal instrument only, nor is confirmation of a surrogacy agreement by the High Court an unqualified green light for the surrogacy process to proceed. In the context of the HIV status of the commissioning father, whose gametes are to be used for the conception of the child in pursuance of a surrogacy agreement, the intended in vitro fertilisation of the su...

The association between educational level and cycle outcomes was quantified by applying multivariable logistic and linear regression within a prospective cohort of 2,569 women commencing their first in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle. Although a woman's educational attainment was not associated with the likelihood of implantation failure, chemical pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, or live birth,...