SCIENCE
ITALY
THE NEW REPRODUCTIVE TECHNIQUES
BY FRANCESCA, ROSELLA
The birth of the first “test tube baby” in 1978 was on the front pages around the world. All the world, with the exception of the Vatican, gave the welcome to the new development of human science .During e the last five decades, humanity has made great strides in science and technology. One of the most striking is the new reproductive technologies . From one side, the Roman Catholic Church has condemned, in vitro fertilization, artificial insemination and motherhood for rent. On the other side, libertarians allow these methods, between married or not.
The the new reproductive technologies are different today :
1 ) Artificial Insemination by Husband ( AIH )
The AIH is used in cases where the husband produces seed, but this seed is not suitable for fertilization. The inadequacy of the seed can be attributed to a low number of active sperm or the inability of the sperm to swim fast enough to the egg .
The seed is introduced through an injection. Depending on the regulation of each hospital , the injection can be performed by a doctor or a nurse , or from the same pair.
2 ) Artificial insemination by a donor ( AID)
The AID is very similar to the AIH . The difference is that the AID is used when the husband’s semen is completely inadequate in quantity or quality .
In Western society , even some single women who do not want to get married but want to have a child, use this method to get pregnant . In England , from two thousand to four thousand births each year are attributed to the AID .
3 ) In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)
The first two methods are used in cases where the husband’s sperm is deficient in quality or quantity. IVF is a technique used mainly by women whose fallopian tubes are blocked and may not be remedied surgically .
In the IVF method , one or two eggs are collected from the mother through a small syringe , and placed in a test tube. Later, the husband’s sperm is used to fertilize the egg . After fertilization , the egg is allowed to develop into the tube until it reaches the eight-cell stage , when it is implanted in the uterus of the mother.