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Old 16-June-2007, 03:58 PM
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Paracelsus Paracelsus is offline
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Well, I don't have an issue with fertility treatments per se (my heart goes out to people who struggle with infertility). But I don't like to see the technology misused. By that I mean that the welfare of the children should be considered above the parents' egos, not the other way around.

In many cases, use of fertility technology can result in multiple implantations (more than two embryos implant in the womb). Accepted medical practice in those cases is selective reduction of a multiple pregnancy to twins, selecting the biggest and healthiest embryos and eliminating the rest. This gives the mother the best chance for carrying the pregnancy to term and delivering healthy children.


Multiples with N>2 often are born prematurely and have a much higher risk of adverse birth outcomes (death and disability) than twins or singletons. The health of the mom is also put at risk by trying to carry more than two fetuses to term.

Parents who refuse selective termination in the instance of N>2 implantations are selfishly risking the lives of their unborn children and abusing the technology that enabled them to get pregnant in the first place.
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