The Iron Ring

Appearing this week on Slate :

“An Italian court rejected a law that restricts in vitro fertilization and genetic testing of embryos. The law bans such testing, prohibits creation of more than three embryos per cycle, and requires all created embryos to be implanted. Ruling: 1) The test ban is an "abuse of power." 2) The three-embryo limit violates the woman's rights if multiple pregnancies (which might be required because the limit lowers the odds of an embryo surviving to term) pose a risk to her health. Liberal reactions: 1) It's a victory for women's rights. 2) It's good for embryos, since they'll be tested for health. 3) Now couples can try for kids instead of holding back in fear of genetic disease. 4) Now couples can do IVF and testing in Italy instead of circumventing the law by leaving the country. Conservative reactions: 1) The test doesn't protect embryos with disease genes; it marks them for killing. 2) The ruling legitimizes eugenics. “

The genesis (no pun intended) of the law is actually really interesting. Essentially, Italian law was trying to make IVF as similar to natural birth as possible. For starters, the three embryo limit. Three is just about the most that nature will put in there at once, right? As for banning the testing of embryos—that can’t be done with regular conception, can it? Yet it seems cruel to deny couples the chance to check the health of those embryos before implanting them, especially those couples with inheritable disease or known genetic risks. And while the Italians claim that such testing ‘marks them for killing’ perhaps nature does this on her own— miscarriages naturally occur in approximately 15-20% of pregnancies.

# posted by Sarah : 9:39 PM