IVF - Is Medical Technology Being Misused?

A 70 year-old woman from a village in Uttar Pradesh, recently gave birth to twins with the help of IVF. One male and one female child. This news has shocked everyone and the issue is now being debated very hotly in the media, as to how and why a 70 year-old woman was given the go ahead for IVF treatment.

http://www.aol.in/news-story/70-year-old-gives-birth-to-twins/2008070112539012000016


Apparently, the couple have lots of agricultural land in their name (ancestral property) for which they did not have an appropriate heir. Therefore, in the hope of giving birth to a male child, they opted for this line of treatment. Both are very happy now that they have an heir to their property.

The doctor who advised this treatment, when questioned by the media, said that he felt that "no woman should be deprived of motherhood, irrespective of her age". He also says that he had never promised the birth of a male child and that such "modern medical technology" to determine the sex of the fetus was not easily available and therefore the question of doing so did not arise!

However, the specialist who had been called, for her opinion on the matter, in the television studio says that that was not true. Fact is that determining the sex of the child can and is being done very easily and is readily available at your doorstep. And that appropriate laws should be reinforced to prevent the misuse of these facilities.

The IVF clinics are making money by encouraging such people to go ahead with the treatment. The specialist was not convinced that the 70 year-old woman was fit enough for the treatment and she would have advised her against it.

This issue is a really serious one that needs careful thought and proper legal measures in place to control the IVF practices and the killing of the female fetuses that has been increased dramatically in the search for a male child.

Read these two shocking news reports of female foeticide being practiced in India:

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/In-Pimpri-female-foeticide-grows-sonography-clinics-under-scanner/271407/
http://www.dancewithshadows.com/society/female-foeticide.asp