IVF Lets Doctors Ignore Underlying Problems

IVF Lets Doctors Ignore Underlying Problems

The Nobel Prize given to Robert Edwards last Friday is unfortunate, because it valorizes a practice that does not serve larger social goods.

In its press release regarding the award, the Nobel Committee wrote, "Robert Edwards is awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for the development of human in vitro fertilization (IVF) therapy.  His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity including more than 10 percent of all couples worldwide."  These statements are misleading.

First, describing IVF as a "therapy" is misleading, because it does not treat whatever pathologies are at the root of couples' infertility.  Second, infertility is not a medical condition, but rather the result of other medical conditions.   A man or woman (or both) who have medical conditions that make conception difficult or impossible will experience no healing of those conditions through appeals to IVF.  One might argue that IVF has allowed the medical community to ignore these underlying pathologies and focus instead on achieving successful pregnancies.

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