According to a report in The Times today artificial reproduction may be performed in a capsule in women's bodies rather than in a laboratory vessel. BioXcell, the US-based company which has developed the device known as the Invocell technique, has applied for approval from American regulators. It involves the mixing of eggs and sperm in a container which is placed in the vagina for three days. Any resulting embryos are screened for quality and implanted in the womb. The Times report is frightening. It refers to ‘fertilised embryos’ being ‘examined for quality’ and the ‘best one or two’ being transferred to the womb. Dr Ranoux, of BioXcell, said the company hopes to "market" their device in Europe, including Britain, later this year. These are our fellow human beings and they are treated as disposable commodities created via a manufacturing process to be sold to the highest bidder.
The pro-life movement must work tirelessly to build public opposition to this kind of reproductive technology in which human subjects are treated as things. Compassion for childless couples should prompt funding for fertility treatments which respect the inalienable dignity of unborn human life and which also offer real hope of success, such as naprotechnology.
