The ethical problems of IVF are becoming more and more apparent. On the surface IVF seems harmless and indeed even a positive thing, and it is hard to say to someone who has children through IVF that what they did was wrong. But there are moral and ethical problems to be considered and they far outweigh the good that results. The major dilemma has been what to do with all of the left over embryos. That’s a question that Ingrid Jansson and her husband are having to ask themselves now that they consider their family complete. The couple have two children already and do not intend to have any more, but there are still eight embryos left over from IVF treatments and the couple cannot agree on what to do:

Jansson, who is not religious, wants to donate her embryos for research. She says giving them to an infertile couple is “not an option” because it “would be like giving away my own child, my own DNA.” Gardner is Catholic, and he objects. He says stem cell research, which dismantles embryos, is “destroying human life” and opposes it for his “son’s siblings.” Says Jansson: “It’s very difficult for us to decide.”

So now we have helped many infertile couples have children. Meanwhile we have essentially “leftover” human beings that nobody really wants but they can’t decide what to do with them. I find it very sad that the woman would rather see her “own child,” as she described it, destroyed for scientific research rather than born to another loving couple. That is a tremendous shame.

I will warn you that this article gets pretty disturbing, especially the last section that deals with donating embryos for scientific research. It is also full of misinformation about the legality of ESC research in the United States. The irony in this article comes from one scientist who says that his inspiration comes from his Jewish grandfather who taught him the concept of tikkun olam, which means to “better the world.” This is ironic because reading the process by which these embryos are brought in to research facilities is eerily similar to the way in which human beings, mostly Jews, were brought in to Nazi research facilities 70 years ago. This statement in particular: “When the embryos arrived, they were given a registry number,” caused me particular concern.

IVF embryos are either used by the couple, adopted, donated for scientific research, kept frozen in a lab or are finally thrown away. This is not how human beings should be treated, even when the goal is to “better the world.” Now that we do have all of these “leftover” human beings, I would say that the best option is to provide them with loving parents who are willing to bring them into the world and give them the love and care that all human beings deserve. That is the greatest good that can come out of this situation.

Embryo Adoption