Infertility Treatment

As technology has advanced, the treatment for an infertile couple has progressed greatly. However, society's opinion of infertility treatment has not progressed. There is a widespread ignorance about the different aspects of infertility. This ignorance plays a role in how little empathy is shown to couples undergoing infertility treatment. An infertile couple undergoes serious risk at a very high cost to be able to bear a child. Despite the fact that Infertility Treatments are high risk, they are an important tool for infertile couples. For as long as the human race has been in existence, infertility has been a problem. In the book of Genesis, there is a story of two sisters: Leah and Rachel. Leah was plain and unloved, but Rachel
This process can take anywhere from three to five days. During this time, if the egg unites with a sperm in the fallopian tube, it will become fertilized and attach itself to the endometrium when it arrives in the uterus and pregnancy will ensue. If fertilization does not occur, the proper hormones will be released to break down the endometrium and menstruation will occur (Encarta). The first step in treating infertility is to determine which partner is infertile. Until recently, if a couple was not able to conceive, the blame would fall with the female partner. However, due to increasing study and advancing technology, researchers have shown that up to half of all infertility cases may be traced back to the male partner (Grayson). Often, the treatment administered to an infertile patient is hormone therapy. There are hormones available to treat both male and female infertility. For female infertility, many of these hormones either inhibit ovarian function or over-stimulate it. It is quite common for these drugs to throw the natural hormonal balance of the patient off. This imbalance can lead to severe mood swings, cramping, nausea, dizziness, and a possible increase in the susceptibility of ovarian cancer
As the Mccaughey septuplets (made famous by Dateline NBC) celebrated their sixth birthday, Ann Curry of NBC News illustrated some of the complications that the septuplets are now facing. Born ten weeks premature, some of these children have faced severe health and learning issues. Joel, the youngest, is developmentally slower than his siblings are. Alexis, faced with complications of cerebral palsy, must wear painful braces that stretch her feet and ankles in order to walk. Nathan also suffers from mild cerebral palsy that causes stiffening in his joints. In addition to the many health issues this family is facing, they must also face the huge financial burden created by having eight growing children (Curry). Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) is a group of "high tech" procedures that, simply put, place eggs and sperm in direct contact in hopes of successfully producing pregnancy. There are many procedures that classified as ART such as IVF, GIFT, and ZIFT. All of these procedures require laparoscopic surgery to supplant embryos with the exception of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). Because pregnancy rates are similar for all of these technologies, IVF has become the dominant practice due to the lack of invasiveness (Adwalla). IVF is the union of an egg and sperm in a laboratory. If the sperm is not able to fertilize the egg naturally, doctors can perform a procedure called intracytoplasmic