IVF and the Era of Choice
A court case is going on today because a Canberra mother gave birth to two healthy twin girls three years ago. The girls are the result of successful IVF treatment, but it seems the treatment was a little too successful. The family involved specifically requested that only one embryo be used in the process, meaning that twins were an unlikely result. However, the doctor mistakenly implanted twin embryos and now he’s being sued. It’s a landmark case and brings to light a lot of sore ethical issues of reproductive technology, especially the element of choice. Associate Professor Beverley Vollenhoven, a doctor with Monash IVF clinic, and Eleanor Milligan, an Ethics doctorate candidate at QUT, discuss whether control is an ethical element of birth.