Nobel prize for IVF is wrong, says pro life group SPUC

Nobel prize for IVF is wrong, says pro-life group SPUC London, : The awarding of the Nobel Prize for Medicine to Professor Robert Edwards for co-inventing in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) is wrong, says UK-based pro-life group the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC).

Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, commented: "IVF is possible because of one simple fact: human life begins at fertilisation/conception. But IVF is an abuse of this knowledge. IVF puts human embryos at a vast disadvantage - they are subject to testing and discrimination, freezing and storage, disability and death.  Countless human embryos have perished in the development and practice of IVF. Since the birth of  the first IVF child over thirty years ago, well over two million embryos have been discarded, or frozen, or selectively aborted, or miscarried or used in destructive experiments."

(See note 1 below) "While opposing the IVF process, we insist that IVF embryos and babies must be accorded all the rights and dignity that any human person deserves. "IVF has made it possible to search out and destroy disabled embryonic children. Our society should not be applauding legal and scientific advancements in the targeting and killing of disabled human beings."

"IVF doesn't actually treat infertility problems, it merely bypasses them. IVF is in reality a large-scale experiment abusing and destroying early human life. Recent studies suggests that babies born through IVF are more likely to have genetic and congenital disabilities (note 2) "Giving Professor Edwards a prize for promoting the abuse of human embryos by IVF is an effront to mankind, and especially to disabled people", concluded Mr Ozimic.

"The Billings Ovulation Method and NaProTech (Natural Procreative Technology) are ethical, healthy and far more successful alternatives to IVF. Unlike IVF, in Billings and NaProTech no embryonic children are killed or exposed to harm in the laboratory, and couples' relationships are strengthened."

Notes:

1) 2,137,924 human embryos were created by specialists while assisting couples in the UK to have babies between 1991 and 2005. During this period, the HFEA informs us that the total of live babies born through IVF procedures was 109,469. BioNews, 9 January 2008

2) Independent, 14 June 2010 ; Telegraph, 8 February 2010 ; Independent, 22 March 2009