I am not at all surprised to read this morning, that a woman in Japan undergoing in vitro fertilization, was impregnated with the wrong egg. The reason I'm not surprised is because humans are humans and mistakes happen and it was only a matter of time before something like this made headlines, providing fodder for lawyers in the biotech industry. What IS surprising is that the mistake was found and reported prior to the birth of the baby. It's also sad that the pregnancy was terminated, since, presumably, people participating in such programs are usually elated to be able to bear a child at all.
Women in Japan are discouraged by the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG) from bearing or raising children that are not their own. Thus the woman, in her 20's, did not want the baby. To me, that seems quite young to be participating in an in vitro program, but apparently they are all the rage in Japan with hundreds of thousands of procedures carried out per year. Stereotypically, older women are involved in such programs because of their reduced fertility, or women who have, for medical reasons, lost their ovaries and have no eggs at all (which may or may not be the case here).
All my opinions aside, this situation demonstrates one of the risks associated with messing with Mother Nature that people might not even think about, and were overlooked in the commentary on in vitro medicine by Moira Gunn in her book Biotech Nation; that is, the potential for human error and irreversible consequences (i.e. a child that belongs to no one). The ethical issues surrounding in vitro procedure are just as complex as the use of unneeded blastocysts for stem cell research. Just because the technology is possible, doesn't mean it should be taken lightly like getting a tummy-tuck or Bo-Tox injections. There are other lives at stake and those should be taken into consideration when embarking on the road to motherhood.
Sources:
Japanese Woman Impregnated with Wrong Egg. Associated Press, Feb. 19, 2009.
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