In-Vitro Fertilization is one of the more widely known types of assisted reproductive technologies in reproductive health. It is a system by which couples who are struggling with infertility or conception are assisted medically by using a combination of medicines and surgical procedures to help sperm fertilize an egg, and help the fertilized egg implant in the uterus.
IVF has many steps, and it takes several months to complete the whole process. It sometimes works on the first try, but many people need more than 1 round of IVF to get pregnant. IVF definitely increases your chances of pregnancy if you’re having fertility problems, but there’s no guarantee — everyone’s body is different and IVF won’t work for everyone.
IVF injections don’t involve much pain, but can be difficult emotionally, both for the person having the procedures and for their partner and/or family. Many people doing IVF treatments struggle with depression and anxiety throughout the process.
That notwithstanding, it is one of the greatest discoveries in medicine. And the process has helped many couples overcome the trauma of childlessness. The first IVF (test tube) baby, Louise Brown, was born at Oldham General Hospital in Greater Manchester, England on July 25, 1978 after her parents Lesley and John became the first people to successfully undergo in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
In Nigeria alone, the number of babies conceived through this process is well over 5,000 and counting.
In spite of this success, many Nigerian couples who have benefited from Assisted Reproductive Technique, ART, don’t disclose that they underwent fertility treatment. Many would rather say, ‘’come and see what the lord has done’’ than give the kudos to this technology and the doctors who led the process.
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE set out to find out why this seeming secrecy around conception through IVF among Nigerian women.
Saratu Kasim is the founder of Fertility Support Group, Africa and lives in Abuja. On her facebook page, while encouraging women mentioned that many women who have undergone IVF treatment fail to flaunt it for the fear of being judged.
Another lady, Maureen Mngunengen a mother of three who spoke to 21ST CENTURY CHRONICLE said ignorance and a failure for many people to recognize the wonders of God through technology look at children born through Assisted Conception as not natural children. As a result, there is stigma attached to it. Some people look at those children as unnatural and abnormal.
Mercy Donald told 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE that she and her husband had been married for more than seven years, and on the eighth year decided to go for assisted conception because it was difficult for them to get pregnant. Talking about their period of waiting for a child to come, Mercy said it was not a good experience at all. She and her husband were under intense pressure. While her husband was advised by many of his friends to take another wife, she was called names like, ‘Man’, ‘Fake Mango’ and others for not being able to conceive. Mercy said this could be the reason why some couples would not disclose easily that they fell pregnant from assisted conception. They are been stigmatized for their difficulty to conceive naturally.
“I don’t think there is anything to hide about assisted conception,” Mercy said. She also said believes that assisted conception is as miraculous a way of conception as the other method of conception, stating that if God doesn’t allow it, it won’t happen.
“It is God who gives the doctors the knowledge and wisdom to carry out this process,” Mercy said, while she and her husband were successful at their first attempt, she knows of other couples who had tried the process for seven times and were still not successful. So, if it were easy, every woman would have had children, yet some still don’t. So, ‘Assisted Conception is a big miracle,” she said.
Mercy also quoted the Bible, stating that the holy book said “none shall be barren.”
Other people have advanced the ‘’Hebrew woman’ mentality for being responsible for the secrecy around IVF by some Nigerian couples.
Ndidi Ejiofor who spoke to 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE in a voice almost angry said, ‘’that’s a very useless mentality. She threw light on the idea of the Hebrew women in the Bible who lied to authorities about the Hebrew women being so strong and giving birth before the Midwives could arrive, and hiding the children, when King Pharaohordered that killing of children on hearing that a new King of the Jews in person of Jesus Christ was born. Ejiofor said she had her Twins(a boy and girl) through Assisted Conception four years ago, and she is ever proud to show case this great miracle of God.
Nick Agule , an ordained deacon of the Catholic Church, while responding to questions by 21st CENTRY CHRONICLE on what the churches position is on assisted conception, Agule said, there is ‘’no long story here. The church approves of only natural conception’’. Agule further cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church as being very clear about this policy. The catechism states that.
“Techniques involving only the married couple (homologous artificial insemination and fertilization) are perhaps less reprehensible, yet remain morally unacceptable because, according to the church, they dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act. The act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give themselves to one another, but one that “entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in itself contrary to the dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children.”
Pope Benedict XVI has publicly re-emphasized the Catholic Church’s opposition to in vitro fertilization (IVF), claiming it separates the unitive procreative actions that characterize the sexual embrace.
In addition, the church opposes IVF because it might cause disposal of embryos; Catholics believe an embryo is an individual with a soul who must be treated as a such.
Also, when it comes to the embryos, cryofreezing them for later use is frowned upon by the Catholic Church because it is considered immoral.
The Catholic Church maintains that it is not objectively evil to be infertile, and advocates adoption as an option for such couples who still wish to have children. So for couples who are Catholics, they might not be free to share details of their miracle of having babies after trying for a long time. They may be inviting the wrath of the church.
In Islam, seeking a cure for infertility is not only permissible, but encouraged among married couples. Muhammed Ali Al-Bar and Hassan Chamsi-Pasha, two American authors in their book titled, Contemporary Bioethics: Islamic Perspective state that In Islamic law, “all assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) are allowed, provided that the source of the sperm, ovum, and uterus comes from a legally married couple during the span of their marriage.”
The doctors add that no third party is allowed tointrude upon the marital functions of sex and procreation. An excess number of fertilized embryos can be preserved by cryopreservation and may be transferred to the same wife in a successive cycle, while the marriage is intact.
Using frozen sperm after the death of the husband is however not permitted and Surrogacy is also not accepted in Islam.
