1. What are Christian views on fertility treatment?

2. What is it?
Medical treatment given to couples who can’t have babies but want them
Infertility can happen for many reasons such as the man’s inability to produce sperm or the woman’s inability to produce eggs
A couple’s inability to have children is often a cause of great distress

3. What does the Bible say about Fertility Treatment?
Nothing !!
Genesis 30 v 1 – “Give me children or I will die” Barrenness was a shameful / disgraceful thing
1 Samuel 1 v 2 – 5 – “Hannah had no children… because the Lord had kept her from having children” Barrenness was seen as the will of God

4. Christian Beliefs
Three important beliefs affect a Christian’s beliefs about these issues
God alone is the creator of life
God gave humans a soul
God created humans in his image

5. Types of Fertility Treatment
IVF - In Vitro Fertilisation
AIH - Artificial Insemination by Husband
AID - Artificial Insemination by Donor

6. IVF & AIH In Vitro Fertilisation (‘in glass’)
Artificial Insemination by Husband
Doctors place the sperm and egg together in a test tube and wait to see if embryos develop
Embryos are placed in a woman’s uterus where they can continue to grow
To increase the chances of success doctors fertilise more than one egg
Spare embryos may result

7. Christian attitudes to IVF & AIH
Many Christians accept IVF and AIH
It is right to use medical science to help couples have babies
Embryos can be discarded because they are not yet foetuses
(it’s an embryo until eight weeks and then it becomes a foetus)

8. Problems with IVF & AIH Catholics disagree with IVF and AIH because:
fertilised embryos are discarded
male masturbation is involved which is a sin
Many people (not just Christians) are concerned with what happens to those spare embryos

9. AID Artificial Insemination by Donor
Same process as with IVF and AIH but a sperm or egg donor is used
Many Christians disagree with AID and call it adultery by another name
Using a stranger’s sperm or eggs involves a third party in the marriage

10. In Summary... Most Christians agree with IVF & AIH
Most Christians disagree with AID
Catholics disagree with all three

11. Medical Research Scientists can use embryos to clone human cells
Human embryos are studied to find cures for human diseases such as motor neurone disease and Parkinson’s disease
Living tissue is implanted in patients to slow down the disease
This tissue usually comes from aborted foetuses

12. Is it Right to use Embryos for Medical Research?
Catholics oppose all embryo research
Anglicans support it up to 14 days
Some Christians support it because it means some good comes out of abortions
Human life is denied it’s value and considered a means to an end
The embryo cannot give consent

13. Playing God Christians believe in the Sanctity of Life
Life is a gift from God
He has created us for a purpose
Cloning cells is like playing God
In 1966 Dolly the Sheep became the world’s first cloned animal
Theoretically it’s possible to do the same for humans

14. Frankenstein
In 1818 Mary Shelley wrote about a scientist who created a monster from parts of dead bodies
This was total fantasy then but more of a reality now!

15. Choosing a Baby’s Sex
Using ‘male’ or ‘female’ sperm to fertilise an embryo
Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is when a cell is removed from the fertilised egg
Sex selection is only permitted to avoid diseases that are linked to a certain sex
In Britain it is illegal to select the sex of a child just because the parents want either a boy or a girl

16. Screening for Disease
PGD can be used to avoid having a baby with a disability
Embryos are screened to see if they contain a specific disease and then only healthy embryos are implanted
This technology is very new and is raising many ethical issues

17. Baby Created to Save Older Sister
In 2000 the Nash family made medical history by having a baby boy who had been selected using PGD to be a perfect tissue match for his very ill older sister
His sister suffered from a rare genetic disease so tissue from her new-born brother's placenta was used to restore her to health
.stm

18. Designer Babies Where will screening for diseases lead to?
Choosing a child based on hair colour?
Choosing a child based on IQ?
Choosing a child based on musical ability?
Choosing a child based on sporting ability?
Choosing a child with a nice personality?
Many argue that the sanctity of life is being abused and we are ‘playing God’

19. Controversy
In 2002 a deaf, Lesbian couple deliberately chose to have a deaf child by IVF
They used the sperm of a man whose family had a long-term history of deafness
They deliberately chose to bring a child into the world with a disability
pr/08/davidteather

20. Your Turn...
Explain what Christians believe about genetic engineering (6)
‘If a couple can’t have children it is because that is the way God wants it” Discuss this statement (12)