Describe the treatments available to help infertile couples to have childrenDescribe the treatments available to help infertile couples to have children

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Ai) Describe the treatments available to help infertile couples to have children

Infertility: “The diminished ability or the inability to conceive and have offspring. Infertility is also defined in specific terms as the failure to conceive after a year of regular intercourse without contraception.”

In recent years infertility has increased in the western world and the answer as to why this is the case is not yet known. It is said that one in seven couples in Britain are affected by fertility problems and is still on the rise. Infertility can affect both men and women and can mean either: low sperm count; low egg ovulation; inability to carry foetus to full terms and inability to conceive.

 

Fertility drugs are sometimes successful for some women; however there are now several medical treatments that involve medical technology, such as: IVF (In-Vitro Fertilisation). IVE is a technique in which the women’s egg cells are fertilised by the man’s sperm outside the woman’s womb, in a dish in a laboratory. “In Vitro” is a Latin term which literally translates as “in glass”. The process usually involves hormonally controlling the women’s menstruation cycle, followed by hormone injections to stimulate ovulation.  The eggs are then removed from the ovaries and are combined with the collected sperm (either husbands or donors’) in a fluid medium, and the embryos are transferred to the patient’s uterus with the hope of a successful pregnancy. In situations where the sperm count is low, a single sperm is injection directly into the egg using ICSI (Intracyctoplasmic Sperm Injection).

        Artificial Insemination (AIH and AID) is the impregnating of the women by inserting sperm into the women’s womb (intrauterine), or the cervix (intracervical) using artificial means, and does not involve the sex act. Sperm can be used from the husband (artificial insemination by husband, AIH) or from a donor (artificial insemination by donor, AID), and is inserted into the female’s vagina or uterus when an ovum is released. If the procedure is successful then she has conceived and carries on the pregnancy as normal.  

        Surrogacy is the agreement of an impregnated woman giving birth to a child for another couple to raise. The most traditional means of surrogacy is where the pregnant woman is the genetic mother of he child she is carrying, and hands the child over after birth. The other method of surrogacy is where the husband and wife’s egg and sperm are fertilised using IVF and placed into another woman’s womb or is artificially inseminated by the husband’s sperm.

There is a lot controversy speculating these treatments. There have been many situations involving IVF where the embryos have gotten mixed up with other embryos resulting in the impregnated woman giving birth to anther couples baby.

Aii) Explain Christian attitudes and the attitudes of ONE other religion to these treatments.

Re are many different views about infertility treatments, two of which I will be writing about are Christian and Muslim views. In Christian teaching there are two main views; there are a variety of Muslim views however these are rounded into one main idea.

The Catholic Church only allows fertility treatments that involve procreation and the sex act; meaning all fertility treatments involving medical technology is wrong and banned for Catholics. These Roman Catholic traditions originate from four ideas. Roman Catholics believe that life is a gift from God and that no-one has right to  children. They also believe that the soul is implanted at conception, therefore any methods of conception that does not involve the sex act is unnatural and wrong. This idea comes from Greek Philosopher Aristotle and was later developed in the 13th Century by St. Thomas Aquinas. Jewish, Muslim and Christians teach that human beings are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). We have a unique status in creation. To treat ourselves as things to be manipulated is to violate this God-given nature.

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They are against treatments such as IVF, which involves fertilising several eggs and throwing them away or using them for experimentation, and is considered to be the same as abortion. They are also against treatments involving masturbation by the male because it is ‘unnatural’ and therefore considered a sin. AID and surrogacy include anonymity of donors which Catholics believe is a denial of the rights of children and is wrong.

Other Christians who are not Roman Catholic allow IVF and AIH because they believe that it is using human intelligence to help others. Unlike Roman Catholics they do ...

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