Ethical issues on In-Vitro Fertilization

Ethics is all about what is right and what is wrong, however, it is not possible to come to a correct
conclusion. On the other hand, others say there is no right and there is no wrong. There, Ethical inquiry is
important to us when we are unsure of the direction in which we are heading. To conclude whether it is ethical
or unethical, we are guided by laws mainly statutory, theories and principles. Nowadays, advance practices in
the biomedical sciences are challenging old thoughts. One example of this is In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) which
involves collection of mature eggs and fertilized by sperm in a laboratory. Fertilization leads to the development
of embryo wherein it will be implanted to the uterus thereafter. However, there are ethical issues regarding this
procedure, few will be discussed in this paper.

According to Firuleasa, I., Floresca, S. & Moldovan, M. (2010), in most cases of IVF, it is not only one
embryo that will be hatched, rather as many as possible, as with low success, the required number cannot be
known from the beginning. Typically, more embryos are moved into the mother's womb, trusting that no less
than one of them will be effectively embedded. The need of various embryo transfers prompts numerous
pregnancies. The various pregnancies accomplished through this strategy include the consequent decrease of
embryos. This implies numerous developing lives are disposed of to improve the survival odds of one or two
embryos. This implies that abortion was made. In accordance with law this is ethically wrong. When it comes to
principle of double effect, the evil side of this is the reduction of embryos which indicates killing also other
babies, the good side of this is that it increases the chance of one embryo to survive. By weighing this, we can
ethically justify that this is not lawful since in the first place we should be not doing it which led us now to the
principle of stewardship which says only God has the right to take away one's life. We are the steward of our
own life; all we need to do is to take care of it. It is just like we are playing God in this method.

Moreover, in this method, there is the involvement of third party either the physician or the biological
mother or parents. Then, difficulties may appear related to the newborns identity. His biological status does not
match to the social or legal one. Issue of abandonment is also related in this case. For example, if your partner
(wife/husband/homosexual) is infertile then you want to have a child so you will seek an IVF. You will either
get your partner's embryo and find a compatible sperm cell or vice versa and fertilize it first on petri dish or tube
thereafter it will be transferred to mother's womb. Thereafter, the biological father or mother has to abandon the
child.

Taking into account with our cultural background, some nations consider IVF as legal and some say it is
illegal. According to Associated Press (2015), IVF was banned in Australia, Italy, Germany and Sweden. On
the study of Flicker, L.S. (2012), they have concluded that they are against IVF as well as any methods of
genetic engineering. However in our country Philippines, this method is legal as it is in our statutory law,
Senate Act 1958: The Family Building Act, a fundamental part of human experience is fulfilling the desire to
reproduce.

If the above conceptions about the nature of ethics were correct, however, it is still ourselves that makes
us who we are, it is our moral. And morality is a matter of personal choice.