‘Infertility is not a life-threatening illness'

While the need to pro-create is seen as a legitimate biological desire there are critics who are saying that infertility is not so great a handicap as to engage in commercial surrogacy.

They say that emphasis should be on improving fertility rather than seeking alternatives via assisted reproductive techniques.

Founder of Comment on Reproductive Ethics (CORE) Josephine Quintavalle said: “Infertility is not an illness and that it’s certainly not a life-threatening illness.

“Not everybody can have a child no matter how much they wish to and we have to accept that we have to say what are the legitimate practices somebody can engage in to have a child, and we have to draw the line somewhere and I certainly would draw it at the surrogacy market that is developing in India.” 

She says that the CORE is committed to restoring fertility to couples and that normal common-sense health education would improve natural fertility rates in the United Kingdom.

She said: “Lifestyle choices like smoking impact hugely on fertility. Obesity is a big problem as is anorexia these are all issues that affect fertility.” 

Associate Professor at the John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre Laura Shanner says that there are raising levels of infertility, all over the globe.

She said: “ The sperm count required to be a sperm donor, today, was considered to be pathologically low in the middle of the twentieth century

 “There are a lot of people who end up in infertility clinics who need not be there and it’s because we can not be bothered to research something that is not as lucrative as assisted reproduction.”