April 20, 2024

1 million embryos destroyed in UK in 14 years

Michael Cook

Independent politician unearths government statistics

More than 1 million embryos have been destroyed by British IVF clinics over the past 14 years, according to government figures unearthed at the request of an independent peer in the House of Lords. Figures from the Department of Health show that 2,137,924 embryos were created in the UK between 1991 and 2005, of which 1.2 million were never used. The statistics on the wastage were not readily available and only became public after Lord David Alton of Liverpool tabled a request in the House of Lords. He says that embryos are being destroyed "at an incredible rate".

"IVF has ensured that a number of people have been given a chance to have children," he told the Sunday Times. "But it is surprising how many embryos are being destroyed in the process. This is a rather unexpected aspect of IVF. If you could just create an embryo to implant, that would be fine. I think it would be much better if these embryos that are going to be destroyed were used for infertile couples. At least they would have a chance of life." ~ Sunday Times, Dec 30

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3 thoughts on “1 million embryos destroyed in UK in 14 years”

  1. They are not destroyed. They stop growing, they are arrested because they are chromosomically abnormal.It happens the same in nature, in vivo.

    Only approximately 20 per cent of the naturally or IVF created embryos are viable for implantation. The others are naturally arrested within days of production because they come from chromosomically abnormal gametes as women of 35-40 years old have 60-80% chromosomically abnormal eggs. Men can have 30 % of chromosomically abnormal sperm.

    Only viable embryos are transferred to the mother or frozen for future use. Some of them are donated to research – 82,955 of the 1.2 million. Embryo donation to infertile couples for adoption is an option.

  2. Artificial fertilization can not be accepted

    In Donum vitae [3](Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith of Catholic Church) which was approved by the Holy Father Pope John Paul II, it is explained why artificial fertilization (e.g., artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization) and cloning are forbidden and cannot be accepted.
    Not only is the sperm obtained in a sinful way, but conception takes place without the specific act of conjugal love. Those who participate in in vitro fertilization (IVF) say that less than 5% of the children so conceived are ever born. Even the majority of those human embryos who are placed in the woman?s uterus with the aim of implantation and birth die because of unnatural conditions. Many children conceived by IVF have been killed in other ways, e.g., used in lethal experiments involving human embryo research, human cloning, human genetic engineering, etc. Many IVF children remain alive while frozen in deep freezers in IVF clinics and other laboratories.
    Among the many important teachings in Donum vitae, consider these words: ? … the child has the right, as already mentioned, to be the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal love of his parents; and he also has the right to be respected as a person from the moment of his conception.? (DV, 59).

  3. Lord David Afton writes ‘I think it would be much better if these embryos that are going to be destroyed were used for infertile couples’. Am I correct in thinking that the same mentality obtains among those women who choose abortion for their unwanted children as among those who choose destruction for their excess or unwanted embryos. The mystery for me is that women in both these groups seem to be saying “If I don’t want this child that I’m carrying or if I have no use for these IVF-created embryos, neither shall any other woman, desperate for a child, have them”.

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