Although there had been worldwide shock and dismay over the recent destruction in England of 3,300 (or more) abandoned embryos conceived through in-vitro fertilization (IVF), its pretty well open season on the tiny humans in Canada. There are currently no laws governing IVF in this country, thanks mainly to the reluctance of former federal Health Minister Diane Marleau to enact mandatory guidelines [...]
The destruction of human embryos in England can be seen as another case of reproductive technology outpacing the law. Research into in-vitro fertilization, while designed to help infertile couples, did not immediately take into account the moral and ethnical questions surrounding the treatment of “spare” embryos. Britain in fact, was a pioneering nation in the science of in-vitro fertilization, and perhaps it [...]
Although the rate of conception is very high with in-vitro fertilization (IVF), successful embryo transfer (ET) and implantation is much more difficult and is usually the stage at which the procedure fails. A fertility clinic often speaks of its high pregnancy rate, which usually refers to the chemical pregnancy in the fist few days, but the implantation rate is much lower, miscarriages [...]
On August 1st, in a move called “a pre-natural massacre” (Vatican’s newspaper L’Osservatore Romano) and “a new milestone for the culture of death” (Catholic World News), British scientists began the destruction of more than 3, 300 human embryos. An appeal was made to 900 couples whose frozen embryos were scheduled to be destroyed, when the five-year limit on their storage had run [...]
The recent destruction of more than 3,300 embryos by British fertility clinic technicians was a chilling reminder of the vulnerability of human life in its earliest stages of development. The incident also underscores how breakthroughs in the field of human reproductive technology are still running well ahead of legal and ethical constraints. It’s not surprising that Britain should be the first nation [...]
U.S. clerics are keeping up the heat on President Bill Clinton for his spring veto of a Congressional ban on partial-birth abortion. During a July 11 Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, Cardinal John O’Connor called on the Congress to override the Clinton veto. He also described partial-birth abortion as “infanticide.” The Mass was celebrated as part of the [...]
The Interim In yet another macabre example of unborn children being used for medical experiments, researchers at Stanford University in San Francisco plan to transplant fetal pancreas cells into 10 diabetics as a way of eliminating the need for insulin injections. The experiments, scheduled to start this summer, are said to offer help to more then a million North Americans with juvenile-onset [...]
The Interim Health minister David Dingwall announced June 5 that Canada is going to ban the sale of human sperm. The proposed bill, which will be tabled at the end of June, reads: “N person shall sell, purchase, barter or exchange sperm or offer to sell, purchase, barter or exchange sperm.” The measure will be a key part of the long awaited [...]
Sue Careless The Interim In the US donor insemination is offered as a commercial service and is worth $165 million a year. Regulation falls to individual states. It is thought that the long-awaited legislation on new reproductive technologies will also outlaw commercial contracts for surrogate mothers, ban prenatal diagnoses for sex-selection purposes, and lout the sale of human eggs, embryos, fetuses or [...]
I have been told that the Catholic Church rejects test-tube babies. Is this true? M. W. Montreal No, it is not true. In 1983, in their submission to the Warnock Committee, the Catholic Bishops of Britain were perfectly clear on the issue: The Church teaches that though in vitro fertilization (IVF) is wrong; the Catholic Church has always welcomed into the human [...]
One of Canada’s Health Minister’s last acts before leaving office was the preparation legislation which would restrict the buying and selling of human eggs. The announcement comes in the wake of an ad which appeared in a University of Toronto newspaper seeking a white female willing to donate eggs for $2,000. In explaining the reasons for the pending legislation, Health Minister Dianne [...]
Who are the Nobel prize winners who promoted the idea of infanticide of handicapped babies? P.N. Vancouver B.C. Two Nobel laureates are on record for expressing support for infanticide, though they avoided using that term. In May 1973, James Watson, of DNA fame, stated: “If a child were declared not alive until three days after birth, then all parents could be allowed [...]
Who are the Nobel prize winners who promoted the idea of infanticide of handicapped babies? P.N. Vancouver B.C. Two Nobel laureates are on record for expressing support for infanticide, though they avoided using that term. In May 1973, James Watson, of DNA fame, stated: “If a child were declared not alive until three days after birth, then all parents could be allowed [...]
Looking at some news stories in Ontario causes me to wonder-and worry-about the future facing disabled persons. Toronto Star columnist Thomas Walkom recently wrote about the plight of one Ontario family in the wake of welfare cutbacks. Matthew Jensen is an eight year old with severe autism who cannot speak feed or dress himself. Matthew is fed through a tube inserted directly [...]
The Consent to Treatment Act (which came into force on April 3, 1995) sets out conditions under which Health Practitioners (HPs) are permitted to administer treatment to patients. (The term Health Practitioner includes: school doctors, nurses and psychologists; public health nurses, and doctors and nurses on staff at birth-control centres and abortion clinics.) Although one of the main purposes of the Act [...]