Perhaps the most amazing infertility options are those that are under the Assisted Reproductive Technologies. In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is under this category of intervention. This breakthrough process begins by stimulating the ovary of a woman to produce eggs, then through surgery these eggs are collected and injected with a sperm. Fertilization is done outside the body. Some of the newly formed embryos, thanks to technology, can be frozen and stored safely for future use. In the meantime, an embryo is returned to the uterus in the hopes that it will be conceived in nine months through a normal delivery.
Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis or PGD can now be used to screen embryos for chromosome abnormalities. This technique is done by removing a single cell from an embryo and tests it for abnormalities in its genetic structure. This further ensures that the implanted embryo is healthy.
Couples are also not limited to their own defective reproductive cells. Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies, donors of eggs, sperms and embryos can help couples conceive. There was a time when donors of this kind could really do nothing to help infertile couples. Infertility solutions are truly getting more and more efficient and flexible.
There are also some ethical issues arising from infertility solutions. Some couples could not just afford treatments like the ART even if they desperately need it. Associated issue is the forcing of health insurance companies to pay for infertility treatments. The beginning of pregnancy is a heated debate questioning the ethical implication of IVF and related methods.
Infertility solutions are ways and means to have a child. And because it operates in the origins of life, it is meant to be controversial. But at the same time, it is meant to be pushed time and time again. The discoveries in its midst is the key to give life to a child who is told before he or she can’t have it.
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