IVF and 'Screening'

I was in the car driving to do some gardening today listening to Radio 4. You can listen to it in BBC IPlayer here. It was an interesting piece on IVF and 'Screening' in a programme called the 'Inside the Ethics Committee'. I understand that as Catholics we do not necessarily agree with IVF anyway. Leaving this to one side, however the programme raised some important issues. It ended up as a focus of the case as it should really be presented. An examination of eugenics in IVF and the medical profession as a whole.

As the BBC IPlayer website notes it is a series in which Joan Bakewell is joined by a panel of experts to tackle the ethics involved in a real hospital case.

They examine the case of Ayesha and her bid to receive fertility treatment. Ayesha has a genetic condition which causes muscle weakness and curvature of the spine. She is in a wheelchair and heavily reliant on her husband and others for day-to-day tasks such as getting out of bed, having a shower and going to the toilet.

By law, the welfare of any child born through fertilty treatment has to be assessed, and Ayesha's case is no exception. But how does her disability and future health affect the welfare of a child? Is it ethical to put the needs of someone who doesn't exist yet above those of someone who does? Should a fertility treatment request be treated any differently if one of the parents has a disability rather than a life-threatening illness like cancer? Whose job is it to decide what makes someone adequate parents? (Well, quite!)

There is a 50 per cent chance that her condition will be passed on to any future child. It is possible to screen out the condition in affected embryos. But Ayesha says she would accept any child regardless of its condition and wouldn't want any screening (her actual words were, 'every child is a gift from God!) The law says you cannot screen in a disability, but says nothing about screening one out. Is it ethical to consider screening for embryos in effect with the same conditon as Ayesha's if she was offered fertility treatment?

The most impressive speaker on the 'ethics committe' was a lady called Alice who had much to say regarding the idea of parents being a 'burden' to their children who may have the same condition as them, the hypocrisy over disability that politically correct society often displays and the simple and true assertion that she is angry that IVF clinics are basically saying they would rather 'screen', terminate, or eliminate people with the same condition as her. Go on, girlfriend! You flippin' tell them! Anyway, have a listen, if you are interested.