Life News Snippets

Reproductive Technologies

In recent times, there have been numerous news items highlighting the complexities and concerning realities associated with IVF (in vitro fertilization) and family formation. Most troubling of the news from around the world related to IVF and non-traditional procreation is the emergence of evidence of rogue sperm donors selling their sperm in large quantities all over the world and creating huge networks of related children. The Netflix show The Man with 1000 Babies highlights how the desperate desire for having children is shockingly and intentionally exploited by one particular sperm donor.

Numerous other stories highlight the tension and conflict between the interests of the commissioning couple and the rights of the child with regard to sperm donation in Australia.

In June, the largest US Protestant denomination, Southern Baptist Church, condemned the use of IVF, saying that the process routinely creates more embryos than can be implanted, which leads to the destruction of hundreds of thousands of frozen embryos, which the church considers human life (Reuters, 12 June 2024).

In an article about international surrogacy, Julie Bindel reported that the global market—already worth almost $18 billion (£14 billion)—is projected to rise to $129 billion by 2032, according to the research firm Global Market Insights, with anywhere between 5,000 and 20,000 babies incubated to order annually. One important question posed in the article is to what extent the lack of regulation around surrogacy drives impoverished women into unsafe and unconsented arrangements (The Telegraph UK, 13 August 2024).

The government in Victoria, Australia, is paying for a campaign to increase the number of egg and sperm donors, despite the ongoing controversy surrounding the unchecked fertility industry. The Age reported that people have stopped donating as often after legal changes in 2017 gave donor-conceived people the ability to find out who their biological parents are once they turn 18. Yet multiple people have found that the fertility industry is completely unchecked, with multiple couples discovering that their sperm donors could have fathered thousands of children. Often, these parents were not told ahead of time how often the donors had given sperm or how many times a donor’s sperm had been used (Live Action, 19 May 2024).

According to the ABC, Australian IVF giant Genea has blocked families’ fight for answers after the fertility clinic destroyed large numbers of embryos due to contamination from bacteria (ABC News, 25 June 2024).

Major IVF company accused of using “wrong sperm” to create children and failing to warn of donor’s potential genetic issues: “We got the wrong sperm.” Anastasia and Lexie are living an IVF nightmare. The couple alleges that the clinic won’t take responsibility (ABC News, 24 June 2024).

Abortion

A woman twice arrested for silently praying outside an abortion clinic in the UK has received a £13,000 payout and an apology from the police in acknowledgment of her wrongful treatment (Right to Life UK, 19 August 2024).

Adelaide law professor and mother of five, Dr. Joanna Howe, has in recent times been openly and publicly investigating abortion and campaigning and educating widely in this area. Her activities led to numerous complaints against her to her employer, The University of Adelaide. Over 4½ years, six separate investigations were launched. Dr. Howe applied to the Fair Work Commission in June and lodged a stop-bullying application against the university, seeking the removal of the corrective actions imposed on her. With legal costs nearing $100,000, she won her case in a victory for academic freedom (The Australian, 10 August 2024).

Euthanasia

A Queensland coroner has criticized the state’s voluntary assisted dying (VAD) laws after an elderly man took his own life using drugs prescribed for his wife, who had been administered a different VAD drug in hospital (ABC News, 11 September 2024).

Well-known international movie director Pedro Almodóvar has made a pro-euthanasia film starring famous actors. “This movie is in favor of euthanasia,” said Almodóvar, 74, at a press conference at the Venice Film Festival. “It is something we admire about the character of Tilda; she decides that getting rid of cancer can only be done by making the decision she actually makes” (The Guardian, 2 September 2024).

In British Columbia, faced with growing waiting lists and healthcare bureaucracy, there have been reports of cancer patients forced to resort to MAID. For instance, a 67-year-old grandmother in Victoria chose to end her life that way after waiting more than 10 weeks to see a specialist.

Euthanasia campaigners often reject claims that reform leads to a “slippery slope,” although numbers keep rising and criteria have been expanded in nations that led the way. In the Netherlands—pioneers of assisted dying since 2002—it now accounts for one in 20 fatalities, with 58 couples dying together last year and the rules extended to include terminally ill children.

Canada has also seen MAID cases soar each year. In 2021, the central rule that natural death had to be “reasonably foreseeable” was removed. Latest figures disclosed that 13,102 people ended their lives under the scheme in 2022, a rise of 30% over the previous year despite the controversial expansion to people with chronic mental illness being postponed until 2027. Canada is catching up fast to the Netherlands’ rate, with 4.1% of deaths aided by doctors. The annual MAID report also revealed that more than one-third of those choosing to die felt they were a burden on family, friends, or caregivers (UnHerd, 30 May 2024).

An assessment of two sets of government data reveals that Canada’s MAID is the 5th-leading cause of death in the country. Reasons for petitions included diabetes and vision and hearing loss. Between 2016 and 2022, 44,958 people have been put to death.

A man, Roger Foley, who suffers from a degenerative neurological disorder, observed that at his lowest ebb, health professionals began to float the idea of euthanasia. “I deal with a lot of pain every day,” he says, “but you can’t give up at the point of the problem—you’re still of value; your life has value” (Wall Street Journal, 2 September 2024).