A Mother's Touch (Ivf Discursive)
A Mother’s Touch.
Being a mother is a complex matter; so diverse that no one can truly define it. The Collin’s dictionary defines it as thus: ‘A female who has given birth to offspring’, however to many different women it means a range of things, to some a burden, to others a gift, care and nurture, the list is endless. Motherhood is often knitted into the very fabric of every woman’s being from when they were only children themselves. Doting relatives will proudly present a doll for the little girl, instilling in her a seed, from which the desire to become a mother grows. Our society over the recent decades has changed; women, who previously were expected to stay at home and look after their family and home, are now, being encouraged to work, be more independent, to have their own career. This means, marriages are now left to later in life (The average age of marriage was 28 in 2000, compared to 22 in 1970) and so children are not born until later in life. This has an adverse effect on the woman’s fertility, her likelihood of becoming pregnant when she is in her early 30’s, is 63%, compared to 86% in her early 20’s. Many fail to conceive, and so turn to IVF in hope of becoming a mother. In 1978, Robert Edwards, a revolutionary scientist sparked hopes in the hearts of such women, when his treatment he named IVF (in-vitro fertilization) led to the birth of the World’s first test tube baby. Since, 4.3 million babies have been born to parents through IVF. The treatment is available from the NHS; however, the couple must meet tight guidelines, otherwise they have to pay the weighty price tag between £4000-£8000 a cycle in the U.K. With a new standardised age limit of 35 to be put in place nationwide, is the NHS doing so for the right reason or all the wrong ones? I believe it to be the latter.
In implementing these guidelines, I feel the NHS –a government ran body- is being both age and gender discriminative in their guidelines, simply for economical reasons.
Being a mother is a complex matter; so diverse that no one can truly define it. The Collin’s dictionary defines it as thus: ‘A female who has given birth to offspring’, however to many different women it means a range of things, to some a burden, to others a gift, care and nurture, the list is endless. Motherhood is often knitted into the very fabric of every woman’s being from when they were only children themselves. Doting relatives will proudly present a doll for the little girl, instilling in her a seed, from which the desire to become a mother grows. Our society over the recent decades has changed; women, who previously were expected to stay at home and look after their family and home, are now, being encouraged to work, be more independent, to have their own career. This means, marriages are now left to later in life (The average age of marriage was 28 in 2000, compared to 22 in 1970) and so children are not born until later in life. This has an adverse effect on the woman’s fertility, her likelihood of becoming pregnant when she is in her early 30’s, is 63%, compared to 86% in her early 20’s. Many fail to conceive, and so turn to IVF in hope of becoming a mother. In 1978, Robert Edwards, a revolutionary scientist sparked hopes in the hearts of such women, when his treatment he named IVF (in-vitro fertilization) led to the birth of the World’s first test tube baby. Since, 4.3 million babies have been born to parents through IVF. The treatment is available from the NHS; however, the couple must meet tight guidelines, otherwise they have to pay the weighty price tag between £4000-£8000 a cycle in the U.K. With a new standardised age limit of 35 to be put in place nationwide, is the NHS doing so for the right reason or all the wrong ones? I believe it to be the latter.
In implementing these guidelines, I feel the NHS –a government ran body- is being both age and gender discriminative in their guidelines, simply for economical reasons.