What Are The Pros And Cons Of In Vitro Fertilization

In vitro fertilization is a procedure to treat the genetic failure in the ovaries that allow a women to naturally conceive a child. Today’s advancements in technology has changed the in vitro fertilization market in many different ways. Personally being a product and witness of the “test tube” baby generation, I understand the happiness and completeness a family experiences when these procedures are successful. On the other hand, although people know a lot about this procedure, most don’t understand the negative effects it can have on families due to extreme technological advancements if government doesn’t enforce strict regulations on this market. I believe this market needs extreme government intervention in order to prevent the harmful future

IVF does have its pros, but for some couples the cons could possibly outweigh these benefits. According to BabyCenter.com, some pros are things such as successful track record, no link to cancer, and improved techniques. But the list of cons seem to outweigh these pros by a few negative factors such as: price, time consuming, IVF not working, and potential complications for the baby and mother during delivery (BabyCenter). Clearly some of these cons are easily fixed by family help or the couple’s salary, but for almost all middle class soon-to-be mothers, this procedure will put a dent in their daily lifestyles. Just for my IVF procedure, my parents spent around $25,000. They had to sell their house and downgrade to a much smaller one, but also were lucky enough to receive financial help from my grandparents, because they were just as passionate of this procedure as were my parents. If a couple can see past the cons, and agree that the pros outweigh them, then IVF is a procedure for them. Among the pros is the success rate, which is seemingly very different depending on age groups. According to American Pregnancy Association (2012), the success rates differ per age group. For example: under the age of 35 is 41%-43%, age 35-37 is 33%-36%, age 38-40 is 23%-27%, and lastly above the age of 40 is 13%-15% (AmericanPregnancy, 2012). Although the numbers for the younger ages seem low, there are far more success stories than not. These age gaps prove that the older the female, the harder it is to conceive. If the success rate is that low for women over 40, imagine the success rate for women 60-65 years or older. Therefore, in order to prevent females above the age of 60-65 to follow through with an IVF procedure in the future, government needs to intervene now before the option is