Modern science has not yet reached the heights that science fiction writers spoke of 100 years ago. But scientists managed to make many amazing discoveries, which in the past they could not even dream of. Among them is the artificial insemination of women who are not able to conceive a child in the traditional way. Let's find out about this process, its features and significance for humanity.
What is artificial insemination?
A similar name is given to the procedure for the fertilization of a female egg by a male sperm, which is carried out outside the body - in a laboratory test tube. After their fusion, the formed embryo sits in the uterine cavity of the future mother, where it grows and develops for the next 9 months in the same way as if it had been conceived traditionally.
In scientific circles, the term in vitro fertilization is abbreviated as IVF for this process.
In vitro fertilization was first performed in the UK in 1978. This technology was developed by Cambridge researchers Robert D. Edwards and Patrick Steptow. It was they who were the first to carry out this procedure in practice, as a result of which the first "test tube baby" was born - Louise Brown.
Why is it used
Artificial insemination makes it possible to become mothers to those women who for various reasons are not able to conceive a child in a natural way, but at the same time are able to bear and give birth to him.
IVF becomes that lifesaver not only in infertility, but also in cases when the mother for some reason (various diseases, age, career, etc.) is not able to give birth to a baby herself or wants to resort to the services of a surrogate mother.
Quite a lot means artificial insemination for single women. In the past, having decided to give birth to a child and raise him on their own, they had to go through a humiliating search for a candidate for the role of father. And then convince him or seduce, in order to achieve the desired pregnancy. Not to mention the legal aspect. However, the emergence of IVF has largely solved this problem. And now, realizing that she is ready to become a mother, a woman can go to a specialized clinic. And if tests show that her body will be able to undergo pregnancy and childbirth, this procedure will be performed.
Difference from Insemination
There are frequent cases when the artificial insemination of women is identified with insemination. However, these are two different procedures. And although they have one goal - to overcome infertility, the methodology for achieving it is different.
To better understand the difference, it is worth learning what intrauterine insemination is. The essence of this reproductive technology is that male sperm is introduced into the uterus or cervical canal of the expectant mother for pregnancy.
Thus, the very process of conception occurs, as in the usual case, inside the female body. Moreover, for the body, this procedure is almost identical to the traditional method. While in vitro fertilization (IVF), the fusion of the sperm and egg occurs outside the body - in vitro (in vitro). The result is tested for the presence of genetically ill diseases, etc. If it turns out that it is viable, this embryo is transplanted from the artificial insemination into the uterus.
There are several types of insemination.
- ISM - intrauterine insemination with the sperm of the patient’s husband.
- ISD is a similar procedure, but using donor material. They resort to it in cases when a woman either does not have a husband at all, or his sperm is unsuitable for fertilization.
- GIFT - both the egg (taken from her earlier) and the seminal fluid are introduced into the fallopian tube of the expectant mother. There they mix, and with a favorable outcome, pregnancy occurs.
It is worth noting that insemination is a simpler, more affordable and cheaper procedure. It can be produced even at home with the patient, naturally, under the supervision of a specialist. While full-fledged artificial insemination at home is impossible.
How is IVF carried out?
In contrast to insemination, in vitro fertilization is a more complex process. Usually they resort to it only if all the others (including artificial insemination) are useless.
IVF is carried out in four stages.
- Ovum collection. To implement it, doctors study the patient’s menstrual cycle and prescribe a course of hormonal drugs that stimulate the ovaries. Typically, drug injections are given for 7-20 days. After the egg is formed in a woman, follicular fluid is taken under local anesthesia. The best cell instances are isolated from it, and, having cleared them, they are prepared for the procedure. If the mother herself does not form full-fledged eggs, donor donations from someone from relatives, acquaintances or outside women are used.
- Sperm preparation. Similar cells can be obtained both by masturbation in a special container, and surgically from the testicles. Ideally, sperm should be removed on the same day as the egg. If this is not possible, sperm are frozen according to a special technique. As with insemination, it is possible to use "alien" material during artificial insemination. Almost any healthy man can become a donor. For many years, there are specialized sperm banks all over the world where frozen sperm is stored. They resort to his services for both insemination procedures and IVF.
- Conception in vitro. This stage of artificial insemination is being carried out in the clinic by embryologists. After the sperm enters the egg, it is considered an embryo. It is kept in artificial conditions for another 2-6 days in specialized incubators. At this time, the number of its cells multiplies. Depending on the duration, the content outside the body without freezing can reach two hundred pieces.
- Transfer to the uterus. After the period of "quarantine" of the future baby is placed in the uterine cavity. This is done in an ordinary gynecological chair using an elastic catheter and resembles the process of insemination. With a favorable outcome, the embryo survives and begins to grow, as with a natural conception. It is worth noting that during the artificial insemination procedure, as a rule, from two to four embryos are transferred to the uterus to increase the chances of success. If all take root, at the request of the patient, the "extra" can be removed surgically. In the future, the process of pregnancy and childbirth itself is no different from that which occurs in women conceived naturally.
What are the methods of artificial insemination
Directly, the process of combining the egg and sperm with IVF can be carried out in two ways.
- Traditional in vitro fertilization.
- ICSI. This is the name of a complex procedure in which the most promising sperm is isolated from the seminal fluid and implanted directly into the egg itself by injection of a microscopic size through a needle. In the future, everything happens, as with classical IVF. Artificial insemination ICSI is used when there are too few suitable sperm in the seminal fluid of the future dad. When using it, every third procedure leads to pregnancy.
Contraindications to IVF
Despite the fact that this method has helped the birth of more than four million children (many of whom have long been parents themselves), it is not always effective and not shown to everyone.
In this regard, there are a number of contraindications. In most cases, they are associated with a risk to the health of the mother and the potential child.
- Ovarian tumors of various kinds.
- Acute inflammatory diseases, regardless of their location.
- Malignant neoplasms, regardless of which organ they affect.
- Benign uterine tumors, the treatment of which requires surgical intervention.
- Various deformations of the uterus, which may interfere with the implantation of the embryo at the initial stage or will negatively affect its development in the future.
- Mental or somatic diseases of a potential mother.
As for future dads, there are no contraindications for them.
In order to find out if there are obstacles to an IVF procedure, you should contact any artificial insemination center. Its specialists will conduct a series of tests and analyzes and will be able to say for sure whether it is possible to realize the desired. Also, with a similar examination, it will be possible to find out whether IVF is necessary or if simpler and cheaper insemination can be dispensed with.
What are the disadvantages of IVF?
Despite the fact that the significance of in vitro fertilization for many childless couples is very great, the process itself has a number of significant drawbacks.
First of all, its value. It's no secret that medicine in the modern world has long turned into a business, and one of the most successful. That is why those who want to resort to IVF will have to fork out. Fortunately, in different countries its cost varies, and not particularly affecting the quality. On average, it is from 2 to 15 thousand dollars (from 125 to 950 thousand rubles).
The cheapest countries where this procedure can be done are India, the Russian Federation, Slovenia and Ukraine. And most of all, you will have to pay for the opportunity to become a mother in the USA and Great Britain.
In addition, even if you find the right amount for IVF, it is not a fact that it will be successful. After all, not all embryos take root. According to statistics, only every third woman becomes pregnant. While the number of such procedures is usually limited to four, for medical reasons.
Among other disadvantages is a high probability of multiple pregnancy. You can recall the case of their television series "Friends", when one of the heroines after the procedure gave birth to three babies. A similar phenomenon is very common. But, having decided to give birth to a child, parents can not always be financially and morally ready for the appearance of several heirs at once. Even worse, if the procedure was performed by a single mother.
To avoid the appearance of unwanted children, you have to do an operation to eliminate the "extra" fruits - that is, actually an abortion. And he in the usual state does not always go without consequences, and for the pregnant woman’s body this is noticeable stress. Not to mention the moral aspect, because the expectant mother has to choose which of her children live and who does not. And let at the time of decision-making it is just tiny sets of cells. But for their parents, they already mean a lot.
Another disadvantage of IVF is its transformation into a soulless business. It's about surrogacy. The idea itself is very noble - to bear and give birth to someone else's child to help his parents, who for some reason are not able to do it themselves.
Only today, women who can give birth to themselves, but do not want to spoil the figure or risk their careers, are increasingly resorting to this procedure. And there are more and more such cases.
The advantages of this method
Let's move on to the positive. Judging by the many positive reviews about artificial insemination, as well as the waiting lists, this is not such a bad thing.
The main and main advantage of IVF is that it allows you to overcome infertility and become mothers to patients with diseases that previously put an end to this desire.
In fact, for the success of the procedure, a woman needs to have only two things: a healthy uterus that can survive pregnancy, and an embryo. Moreover, the latter can be created on the basis of both its own genetic materials and donor ones.
In addition, the evolution of this method today has reached such a level that doctors can already determine not only the sex of the embryo, but also the presence of Down's syndrome before it is inserted into the uterine cavity. Thus, future parents actually already have the opportunity to choose the gender of the child.
The IVF method today also makes it possible to “postpone pregnancy." That is, if a woman does not want or cannot become a mother at the moment, but plans to do so in the future, she can deposit her genetic material. And after a few years, when it is ready, get pregnant through artificial insemination.
Modern technology of cryogenic freezing allows preserving for many years not only sperm and eggs, but also fertilized embryos. And after defrosting, they take root no worse than freshly picked. And children born after such procedures are absolutely normal and healthy.
The importance of IVF for science
Having considered all the advantages and disadvantages of this phenomenon, it is worthwhile to dwell in more detail on the importance of artificial insemination for the progress of mankind. In addition to a major breakthrough in the field of reproductive technologies, the advent of IVF has given scientists a chance to learn how to prevent many diseases in unborn children by diagnosing them even when the kids are several cells in size.
In addition, the discovery that a human embryo can exist outside the mother’s uterus made it possible to develop a technique for nursing premature babies that were doomed 50 years ago.
In addition, the fact that a child with a size of several cells can endure perennial cryogenic freezing without harm to itself gives hope that in the future a technology will be developed for the "conservation" of the human body for long-term travels in space.
The importance of IVF in terms of morality
Having listed the main advantages and disadvantages of IVF, it is worth considering its moral aspect.
As regards the attitude to the procedure of various religions, most of them welcome the new opportunities to become parents who are granted such fertilization. At the same time, they criticize some of its nuances.
In particular, almost all religions believe that the use of donor sperm or eggs negatively affects the institution of the family, morally decomposing it. Indeed, in this case, one of the parents actually raises someone else's child. In addition, the ability to get pregnant with IVF helps many women not get married, but prefer to raise their children alone.
In fairness, it is worth noting that such claims are clearly far-fetched. After all, many parents raise other people's children and are happy. And these are not only babies "inherited" from previous marriages of the second halves, but also adopted children. And just such situations, all moralizers are not just good, but even often set an example.
As for single mothers, for some reason the widows who laid down their lives on raising a child have been an example throughout the ages and have been respected. But, in fact, they are not particularly different from women who choose not to marry (or do not have such an opportunity), but who have given birth to a child "for themselves."
There is one more point for which almost all modern religions criticize artificial insemination. This is related to embryos. When carrying out the procedures, scientists and doctors perceive them as raw materials on which to conduct experiments and throw them away. Moreover, most moralists believe that each of the embryos is already a person with a soul. So, the attitude towards him should be appropriate.
That's just at the moment there is no evidence that a set of cells 2-4 days old really has a soul and other personality attributes. On the other hand, the converse has not been proved. Indeed, for mankind, the mystery of the emergence of consciousness is still a mystery. Therefore, some with foam at the mouth shout that the child becomes a person only after birth, while others no less violently prove that from the moment of conception. And, according to the latter, the choice of one of several embryos and the destruction of lower-quality ones is equal to killing children. Which of them is right - time will tell.