Your homework for this week is about the artificial control of fertility-you were given a sheet in the lesson to do this. It is about the moral & ethical issues about IVF.
If you lose your sheet the instructions are below in red.
Due date Thursday 6th December P3!
What to do with the rest?
Aims
During IVF, numerous egg cells from the woman are fertilised by sperm cells from the man. This is to increase the chances of obtaining viable embryos that can be implanted into the woman’s uterus. However, there might be more viable embryos than are needed, and so some are not implanted and are left over.
In this activity you will encounter some of the opinions regarding the use of these embryos.
Instructions
Read the following points of view – then write down your own point of view.
Roman Catholic priest: “I believe that life starts at fertilisation and that all life is sacred. These embryos have rights and these are just as important as a baby that has been born. I don’t think that IVF should be allowed at all.”
A pregnant mother: “IVF has given me the chance to have a child when it looked impossible. I’d like to keep those spare embryos in case I want another child in the future. If I don’t use them, I’m happy for them to be donated to other couples who would like a child.”
Scientist: “We have such an opportunity to use these embryos for work in human cloning and stem cell research. They’re not ‘human’ yet – they are just a ball of cells. We should use them to research the prevention of disease and human suffering.”
Politician: “I am thoroughly against the use of spare IVF embryos for scientific research. It’s a slippery slope to human cloning and selecting embryos for characteristics. Even though they can’t live on their own, they still have the potential to be a human life and that should be respected.”
Your opinions:
Choose the opinion you least agree with and imagine you have the opportunity to ask that person some questions. What would you ask? Do you have a point of view that you would want them to consider? What else would you like to say to them?
