Involves

Helps

Issues / Problems

Artificial Insemination

Placing sperm at the neck of the cervix artificially.

The sperm is collected by masturbation.

Simple.  Painless.

AIH

  • when the man can't ejaculate

  • when the man can't have sex

  • when the woman's cervix is hostile

  • if the man has undergone medical treatment that left him sterile the couple may use sperm extracted before the operation

Some believe sex is for uniting a couple and procreating.  AIH separates the uniting aspect of sex from the procreation part of sex.

By donor - the donor is anonymous.

The child may be illegitimate by law.

AID

  • when the man is infertile
  • if the man carries a faulty gene that could be passed on to a potential child

Some are concerned about introducing a third party into an exclusive relationship.

The 'father' may feel a failure.

The identity of the biological father is unknown.

The child cannot trace the biological father.

The child is not biologically the husband's.

In-vitro Fertilisation

'Test tube babies'

The first test tube baby was born in 1978

Human eggs are extracted from the ovary and mixed with semen in a Petri dish.  When at the 8-celled stage, some embryos are put back in the uterus.  Other embryos are frozen.

  • if the woman's tubes are blocked

 

Egg Donation

  •   if a woman does not produce eggs

 

 

It separates the uniting aspect of sex from the procreation part of sex.

Problem of spare embryos - is it right to freeze them / kill them off / use them for experimenting.

Problem of donors.

Surrogacy

Fertilised embryos of one couple are put in the uterus of another woman.

Sometimes there might be donations of egg and / or sperm.

  • if the woman has no uterus, or a damaged uterus

 

Payment of money for a child?

What if the surrogate mother doesn't want to give up the child?

The child is legally the birth mother's in this country - no matter whose it is genetically.

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