Campaigners call for IVF ban

Pro-life campaigners have welcomed a recommendation by Scandinavian researchers that women undergoing IVF treatment should have just one embryo implanted instead of two, but says that ultimately IVF should be banned. Nuala Scarisbrick from LIFE, said: "IVF is incredibly wasteful of human life, both at the embryo stage (when thousands of eggs are frozen and/or discarded) and at the pregnancy stage, where babies are routinely aborted to improve the chances of the remaining one or two babies surviving in multiple pregnancies. "In this respect this recommendation is to be commended. However, IVF is lazy medicine. It cures nothing and merely bypasses the causes of infertility. Many cases of so-called unexplained infertility can be solved and treated, but IVF provides rich pickings for scientists. Thousands upon thousands of human embryos are in deep-freeze ready for scientists to use them for 'research'. This is the real impetus behind the IVF industry. "IVF poses grave risks to women's health, many of which we are only beginning to get the measure of, such as the link with ovarian cancer. And IVF is not even very successful. Its high failure rate can place such strain on a couple's relationship that it is now a significant cause of relationship breakdown. "We all have the greatest sympathy for infertile couples but ultimately this is not the way to deal with this growing problem. Unless the causes of Britain's increasing rate of infertility are identified, the situation will only worsen. The LIFE Fertility Programme deals with the causes of infertility and, where possible, treats them. It is natural, more successful and cheaper than IVF and brings couples closer together. "The causes of infertility are complex and require a huge change in prevailing attitudes towards sex, relationships and family life. Much infertility is caused by either abortion or sexually transmitted infections. The government should make it their priority to reduce both of these so that future generations can conceive naturally. "LIFE hopes that delegates at the European Fertility Conference will recognise that IVF is not the way forward and causes the deaths of thousands of tiny human beings every year. To impose a single embryo transfer is a step in the right direction but ultimately it will do little to prevent the mass destruction of human life that IVF causes."