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AIBU?

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To ask if people today don’t agree with ivf?!

817 replies

Yaerry · 25/11/2024 15:44

or am I just naive? Watched the new documentary about Jean Purdy and I’m surprised there was so much push back at the time. It’s made me wonder if one day surrogacy will be more accepted? I thought ivf was just a standard thing now that wasn’t controversial.

OP posts:
PoissonOfTheChrist · 25/11/2024 15:58

Surrogacy is the buying and selling of humans. It's abhorrent. No human should be bought/sold.

Many people have an issue with IVF because of the destruction of embryos that happens.

IVFmumoftwo · 25/11/2024 15:56

Apples and pears really. Interestingly it is always the ones with several children who are most vocal about cutting NHS funding IVF though!

Yaerry · 25/11/2024 15:56

BodyKeepingScore · 25/11/2024 15:54

Surrogacy and IVF are two completely separate issues.

I have no moral objection to any couple needing fertility treatment. I do however, object to surrogacy on the grounds that it is little more than human trafficking. Humans are not commodities to be bought and sold. It is unconscionable to remove a newborn infant from its biological mother (unless said mother is incapable of providing a safe and loving home).

In my opinion, adoption solves a problem that already exists (ie that a newborn baby needs a home) whereas surrogacy creates a problem.

If we suggested removing puppies and kittens from their mother at birth, there'd be outrage, yet somehow it's acceptable to buy the use of a woman's body for the purposes of creating a baby only to rip that baby from the only attachment it's known?

@BodyKeepingScore surely the birth mother holds the baby etc after its born? But actually even if she didn’t, that could happen when a mother is in surgery or unconscious etc after birth?

OP posts:
Okayornot · 25/11/2024 15:55

No 60 year old could get IVF in the UK .

Now I've said that I don't think it is true! There doesn't seem to be a cut off. But, I also don't think many clinics would agree to treat someone obviously past normal childbearing age .

IVFmumoftwo · 25/11/2024 15:55

Makingchocolatecake · 25/11/2024 15:52

I don't think I'd ever personally use ivf/surrogacy as it would make me incredibly anxious and there are so many children in care who need parents.

But that's easy for me to say as I have biological children and have no idea what it's like not to be able to.

It is very difficult to adopt and to be honest I wanted my own baby and to experience pregnancy so didn't want to adopt or foster. We probably would have been rejected anyway.

sprigatito · 25/11/2024 15:54

Surrogacy involves deliberately inflicting a primal wound on an infant which can lead to lifelong psychological issues, attachment disorders etc. IVF...doesn't. They each have their detractors, but they aren't necessarily the same people.

BodyKeepingScore · 25/11/2024 15:54

Surrogacy and IVF are two completely separate issues.

I have no moral objection to any couple needing fertility treatment. I do however, object to surrogacy on the grounds that it is little more than human trafficking. Humans are not commodities to be bought and sold. It is unconscionable to remove a newborn infant from its biological mother (unless said mother is incapable of providing a safe and loving home).

In my opinion, adoption solves a problem that already exists (ie that a newborn baby needs a home) whereas surrogacy creates a problem.

If we suggested removing puppies and kittens from their mother at birth, there'd be outrage, yet somehow it's acceptable to buy the use of a woman's body for the purposes of creating a baby only to rip that baby from the only attachment it's known?

Slacktides · 25/11/2024 15:54

TeenToTwenties · 25/11/2024 15:46

Surrogacy and ivf are very different things with very different ethical issues and shouldn't be conflated.

This.

Ggmores · 25/11/2024 15:54

I thought IVF was medical assistance to help a couple who are experiencing infertility to have a baby, with the mother raising the child the one becoming pregnant. I’m not sure what is controversial about IVF, there are so many other illnesses that require medical intervention, so I don’t think it’s particularly controversial.

Surrogacy is completely different as the person carrying the baby won’t be the one raising it and the process doesn’t always require medical intervention.

Maybe a different example might be useful, so IVF and an artificial heart, or some other diagnosis that requires medical intervention

Okayornot · 25/11/2024 15:53

Yaerry · 25/11/2024 15:51

I didn’t know older people ie 60s could use ivf?!?

There are sometimes cases in Italy and India. No 60 year old could get IVF in the UK .

Makingchocolatecake · 25/11/2024 15:52

I don't think I'd ever personally use ivf/surrogacy as it would make me incredibly anxious and there are so many children in care who need parents.

But that's easy for me to say as I have biological children and have no idea what it's like not to be able to.

Yaerry · 25/11/2024 15:51

I didn’t know older people ie 60s could use ivf?!?

OP posts:
TickingAlongNicely · 25/11/2024 15:50

Surrogacy is becoming less accepted.

I've heard people be against IVF on the NHS, but not in general.

HelloCheekyCat · 25/11/2024 15:50

IVF has shades of grey for me, lesbian couples using it, hetero couples who can't conceive for whatever reason, all fine.
Couples in their 60's+ using it to have a baby definitely not.

ComtesseDeSpair · 25/11/2024 15:49

Some people have issues with IVF around destruction of embryos etc, and cost effectiveness for relatively low success rates if offered by a public healthcare system, but the ethical concerns for surrogacy tend to be different. Personally I’ve no issue with either.

JustinThyme · 25/11/2024 15:48

TeenToTwenties · 25/11/2024 15:46

Surrogacy and ivf are very different things with very different ethical issues and shouldn't be conflated.

Absolutely!

TeenToTwenties · 25/11/2024 15:46

Surrogacy and ivf are very different things with very different ethical issues and shouldn't be conflated.