Imagine being 20 again. You’re in college, and all of a sudden you find out that you have a sibling who's 20 years younger than you… except that he was conceived at the same time you were.
Now, after you try to stop picturing your parents having sex, your mind will inevitably start wandering to the realm of sci-fi excellence: a baby who was born and then cryogenically frozen, only to be thawed out 20 years later. Actually… you wouldn’t be that far off.
Now, after you try to stop picturing your parents having sex, your mind will inevitably start wandering to the realm of sci-fi excellence: a baby who was born and then cryogenically frozen, only to be thawed out 20 years later. Actually… you wouldn’t be that far off.
The baby itself wasn’t frozen, but the embryo was; in 1990. The birth was reported in the online edition of Fertility and Sterility. The 42-year-old mother started trying to get pregnant using in vitro fertilization (IVF) ten years ago. She and her husband received embryos from a couple who had undergone IVF successfully. The “leftover embryos” were donated anonymously after the woman successfully gave birth… in 1990.
The previous “frozen embryo record” was for a baby who was born after its embryo had been frozen for 13 years. When Louise Brown, the first test-tube baby, was born in 1978, I’m not so sure that Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe imagined being able to use IVF on an embryo that was fertilized 20 years earlier.
As with anything having to do with embryos, there are ethical debates over freezing potential humans. According to the Telegraph, in 2007, a mother froze eggs for use by her daughter. Her daughter, who was seven at the time, had been born sterile. If the daughter one day uses the frozen eggs, she’ll technically give birth to her half-sibling.
Professor Seang Lin Tan, a director of the McGill Reproductive Center, told the Telegraph that "It takes time for people to get used to the idea. A generation ago homosexuality was illegal in Canada. It is not for us to make ethical decisions for the next generation."
What are the debates over IVF and should we take them seriously? The mother of the 20-year embryo had been trying to get pregnant for years. Can popular opinion really dictate that she’s not allowed to? That doesn’t really seem fair.
The previous “frozen embryo record” was for a baby who was born after its embryo had been frozen for 13 years. When Louise Brown, the first test-tube baby, was born in 1978, I’m not so sure that Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe imagined being able to use IVF on an embryo that was fertilized 20 years earlier.
As with anything having to do with embryos, there are ethical debates over freezing potential humans. According to the Telegraph, in 2007, a mother froze eggs for use by her daughter. Her daughter, who was seven at the time, had been born sterile. If the daughter one day uses the frozen eggs, she’ll technically give birth to her half-sibling.
Professor Seang Lin Tan, a director of the McGill Reproductive Center, told the Telegraph that "It takes time for people to get used to the idea. A generation ago homosexuality was illegal in Canada. It is not for us to make ethical decisions for the next generation."
What are the debates over IVF and should we take them seriously? The mother of the 20-year embryo had been trying to get pregnant for years. Can popular opinion really dictate that she’s not allowed to? That doesn’t really seem fair.
