SOME FERTILITY RESEARCHES
In 1984, scientists at the University of California at Irvine developed another way of joining egg and sperm called GIFT, which stands for gamete intrafallopian transfer. Instead of mixing sperm and eggs in a glass dish, the scientists insert a thin plastic pipe carrying the sperm and eggs into the fallopian tubes, where they unite just as they would in a normal pregnancy.
After 8 years of trying all sorts of techniques, GIFT worked for Jerry and Susan White, both 38, of Mission Viejo, California. He’s a police officer; she’s a flight attendant.
“We had every test possible,” Mrs. White recalls. “Doctors could not pinpoint the problem. The sperm were not reaching my tubes. There was nothing physically wrong with either of us.”
In 1987, Mrs. White received the eggs and sperm directly into her tubes. Two weeks later, she got the word: she was pregnant. Two weeks after that, sound-wave pictures revealed that she was carrying twins. “I was in total disbelief,” she says.
It was a difficult pregnancy: anemia, high blood pressure, diabetes, and a 12-hour labor 5 weeks early. On January 20, 1988, Katie and Sarah, fraternal twins, were born. The girls came from two eggs, two embryos. (Identical twins share one egg.)
Mrs. White, who is Roman Catholic, was able to have her babies with church approval, since fertilization occurs naturally in the fallopian tubes with GIFT. However, the church’s stand against IVF and other “artificial” techniques – as well as fear of opposition from other religions and anti-abortionists -has had an influence on federal support and regulation of fertility research, including the use of human embryos. For example, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the leading supporter of medical research in the United States, provides no money for IVF research.
Pro-choice and anti-abortion forces have turned IVF research into a political battleground. In 1996, the Republican-dominated Congress passed a law that blocked NIH funds for research on embryos and fertilized eggs. However, the law still permits scientists to explore fetal tissue from induced abortions. Such tissue could lead to cures for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes. Paradoxically, the NIH may not fund work that could show whether fertility techniques are safe.
The lack of funds and leadership dismayed many scientists at the National Institutes of Health, but they do not speak out for fear of reprisals.
Says Dr. Jon Gordon, who extensive fertility researches at New York’s Mount Sinai Medical Center: “It’s irrational. It slows the progress of science. It’s very frustrating to me that I cannot get NIH funds. Those who want to limit this research stand to lose as much as patients who want and need the research.”
Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, opposes using human embryos in research. “They are human beings,” she says, “not property. We are opposed to technology that risks the life of an innocent person. These are moral absolutes. You don’t kill an innocent person. Science has advanced beyond its moral limits.”
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Tags: General health