IVF: Its Place In the World

The use of human embryos in IVF and other birth control technologies have increasingly come under fire. On one side, governments are in a mess about defining what is permissible and on the other side we have the ethical and religious objections of organisations such as the Catholic Church. This interference can be seen in the recent John McBain Vs Victoria case.

In this case, Doctor John Macbain (a gynaecologist who specialized in IVF services) was approached by Ms Meldrum, a single woman wishing to conceive through IVF. However, under the Victorian infertility Act, IVF may only be carried out “on a woman who is either married of living with a man in a de facto relationship”. Therefore women separated from their husbands, single woman and lesbian women are prohibited from the treatment. In a twist of events, a big fat double standard was found in section 22 of the commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act. This act states that it is unlawful for a person to refuse to provide services to another person based on their marital status.

In a groundbreaking decision, the court held that the Commonwealth law overrode the state law and that Ms Meldrum could receive the treatment. However, according to Jane O’Dwyer (feminist and former catholic) “the attempts by the Federal government and catholic church bishops to deny access to IVF treatment by single and lesbian women in this case are quite disturbing”. She went on to say that “although the Catholic Church justified their involvement as ‘protecting the rights of the child’, they quickly went on to say it was ‘because there would otherwise have no one else to plead the cause of marriage’ ”.

Initially support for this method is divided among feminists. While abortion and contraception both leap away from the image of women engaging in motherhood, IVF is “fulfilling rather than rejecting this traditional female role” (Judy Wajcman-from “Feminism confronts technology”). According to radical feminists, these technologies are aimed at removing a woman’s unique sense of power. However, according to noted feminist Michelle Stanworth, they are “indispensable resources upon which women seek to draw according to circumstances”

Secondly, much discussion also revolves around whether the right to choose to have an abortion is the same as the right to choose to have child through IVF. In a general view however, feminists and women usually support IVF on the basis that these technologies increase a woman’s choices and that women do indeed have the right to reproduce.