Posts Tagged: ethics
Babies with three parents are one step closer to becoming reality
This week I had the opportunity to read an article titled, “Three person IVF moves closer in UK,” and because my scholastic background is in Biology and Health Sciences as well as Women’s studies I was obviously intrigued. The article describes how scientists have been making breakthroughs to enable mothers with mitochondrial abnormalities to have the ability to bear healthy biological children through the use of the mitochondria from another women’s egg. The mitochondrion is classically described as the powerhouse of the cell, and is crucial for creating energy for the body’s day to day processes. This type of fertility is considered an advanced form of IVF (In vitro Fertilization), and if successful, the resulting baby would have DNA from three parents (Most of its DNA from two and a… Read more »
Are we ready?
The headline read: “Surrogate offered $10,000 to abort baby” Let me begin by saying that I really don’t have an answer for this. With this situation there is no moral or ethical high ground to stand on. But this story leaves us with a lot of questions that we must begin to ask ourselves with this new age of medicine upon us. If you haven’t read this story, stop now and read it. I will recap it just in case. A couple pays a surrogate $22,000 to carry their child. Their contract stipulates that in the case of extreme defects, the surrogate will terminate the pregnancy. Indeed, the fetus began to develop many life-threatening problems. Couple asks that the surrogate mom have mercy on the fetus and to not continue… Read more »
