In Vitro Fertilisation

            In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a technique of medically assisted conception, sometimes referred to as "testtube" fertilisation in which mature oocytes are removed from a woman's ovary and fertilized with sperm in the laboratory.
             The practice of IVF and especially its future potential applications creates legal and religious problems, which have special problems with regard to implementation of this procedure in different societies.
             The birth of the first IVF baby in 1978 brought a lot of hope to many people. The technology, which went with IVF, has meant that other forms of treatment have improved dramatically as well. As I said developments like these raise hopes for many people but also despair for many others. Despair because perhaps they feel that this is something that they can't really come to terms with on ethical grounds. Many people from various religious backgrounds find the new technologies difficult.
             The embryo as a person: the embryo constitutes a legal person from the moment of conception.
             The embryo as property: the young in vitro embryo is a form of biological property.
             Scientifically, it is at conception that a biological entity is created with a genome distinct from that of either parent. That genome encodes all the genetic information necessary to create a new , unique, adult human individual. Conception is also what initiates the complex and mysterious series of biological events that characterize embryonic development and that culminate in the creation of a living, human individual.
             As legal persons The ability to fertilise an egg outside the body and put it back also has other implications too because while it's in the test tube, the embryo could be used for research. There is very carefully monitored research nowadays, controlled by the HFEA and by local ethics committees. But nevertheless, some people find the idea of research disturbing. .
             To view the in vitro embryo as property likely means that it will be the parents-donors of those gametes that gave rise to the embryo in whom property rights will be vested.