IVF - A Crime Against Humanity

Over 12,000 babies are born in the UK every year as a result of IVF fertility treatment.  This is both morally wrong and economically not good for the country. I’ll start with the economic side of the argument.

In 2010, there were 57,652 cycles of IVF treatment in the UK. Each of these cycles costs about £4,000, meaning the total cost for IVF treatment in the UK last year was about £23m. Now, not all of this was paid for by the government – by piecing together figures from a variety of sources, my best estimate is that about 30% of that was paid for by the NHS. This, however still comes to about £7m a year spent on IVF by the government. Now, admittedly, £7m is not a lot of money when it comes to the UK Government’s budget, and although I do subscribe to the view that every little helps (without trying to advertise Tesco too much), this is clearly not enough money to kick up a fuss about.

However, there are other costs involved when it comes to IVF. Studies published over the last decade have found that IVF babies are 30% more likely to suffer from a birth defect including heart valve defects, cleft lip and palate, and digestive system abnormalities. As well as these, they face an increased risk of rare genetic disorders including Angelman Syndrome and Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome. These defects are going to cost the NHS more money over the long-term and it is impossible to estimate how much money will be drained away as a result of these extra disorders.

Furthermore, there is a cost to humanity, and now I will move onto the ethical side of the argument. Now, don’t worry, I’m not an idiot and I have nothing against IVF due to pathetic reasons like: ‘it’s murder’ or ‘we shouldn’t play God.’ Firstly, it’s not murder, embryos are not alive and so those that do not get used are not being killed. Secondly, why shouldn’t we ‘play God?’ If God didn’t want us to ‘play God,’ he wouldn’t have given us the ability to do it. However, I do believe we have a duty to the human race, and IVF interferes with the process of natural selection.

As well as the data I have already given about IVF causing birth defects and genetic disorders more often than natural conception, it also means infertility will carry on existing in the human race. Infertility, or rather sub fertility, is at least partially inherited. Therefore, by not helping infertile and sub fertile couples to have children, inherited infertility will die out. Other causes of fertility problems include being obese, smoking, or having STIs. I would say that these are also characteristics we do not want to continue in the human race. Some might argue that these could be ironed out by genetically testing the embryos, and creating 'designer babies.' I am kind of against this because again, it interferes with natural selection, however it could be argued that this speeds up the process and that can only be a good thing.

On a side note, this will also help with the population crisis in the world. Just saying.

I know what many of you are thinking – this is cruel, to not allow couples who want children help with becoming pregnant. In a lot of cases, I would disagree and say that the couple partially deserves it, and have brought it upon themselves. If they smoke, or they’re obese, or they have contracted an STI, they do not deserve help to have a child that they can ruin and continue to drain the government and society in general. However, in a few cases, it may be that two lovely people, who have nothing wrong with them apart from the fact they were unlucky enough to inherit fertility problems or even have an unexplained loss of fertility, want a child and need IVF to do so. What I would say to them is that: there are 17,000 un-adopted children in the UK. Adoption rates need to improve, and stopping IVF treatment will do this. I know this is not the same as having a child of your own, but life’s not fair. Sorry.