IVF essays

IVF essays In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) translates to the term in glass (vitro) fertilisation essentially it is a technique whereby egg cells are fertilized outside the mother's body due to conception being impossible by normal sexual intercourse. There are many issues concerned when discussing the topic of IVF, this report aims to analyse these issues in detail. It intends to cover the history, facts, controversies and ethics and values concerned with IVF treatment. In order for pregnancy to occur, an egg has to be released from the ovary (female) and unite with a sperm (male) during sexual intercourse. Normally this coming together, called fertilization, occurs within the fallopian tube, which joins the uterus (womb) to the ovary. However, in some circumstances natural conception cannot occur due to factors affecting the couples fertility. In Vitro Fertilisation allows for the union of the female egg and the male sperm cell, the union which usually occurs in the fallopian tubes instead is carried out in a laboratory after eggs and sperm have been collected, from the male and female. In Vitro Fertilisation is a fertility procedure, which first succeeded with the first test tube baby being born in 1978; the discovery was made by Dr Patrick Steptoe (an embryologist) and Dr Robert Edwards (a gynaecologist), in England. The first successful IVF treatment in the US took place in 1981, and there have been approximately 500,000 babies born world-wide with the aid of IVF treatment since then. The birth of Louise Brown, the first child born from IVF in 1978, was an important landmark in the management of infertility. When IVF was discovered it was initially designed to treat couples with damaged or absent fallopian tubes, but with its improved success rates IVF has been functional for patients with other causes of infertility, such as tumours, cysts, unexplained infertility and male infertility. In the early...