Reproductive Technology Myths
MYTH: The new reproductive technologies have been developed to cure infertility
FACT: The new reproductive technologies are designed to produce babies; they do nothing to remedy the condition of infertility
MYTH: The new reproductive technologies were developed out of a concern for women who suffer from infertility
FACT: Little or no research has been conducted into the long-term health consequences either for women using the new reproductive technologies or the children produced by them
MYTH: The new reproductive technologies represent greater reproductive choice for women
FACT: Not only are these technologies restricted to “appropriate” clients, and prohibitively expensive, but they are also precluding certain choices by creating new technological dependencies
MYTH: New reproductive technologies have nothing to do with genetic engineering
FACT: Together with IVF and related technologies, genetic engineering is used for eugenic purposes as for instance with the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to create ‘designer children’
MYTH: The new reproductive technologies are beneficial as long as they are “in the right hands”
FACT: There are historical and contemporary alliances between the new reproductive technologies and other technologies such as nuclear technology and biological warfare which have been proven to be unsafe in any hands
MYTH: The new reproductive technologies are new
FACT: Genetic engineering in agri~culture and animal husbandry has a long commercial history which has significant implications for how these new technologies will be applied to humans
MYTH: The new reproductive technologies are an example of the social benefits of scientific progress
FACT: Scientific “progress” is not necessarily beneficial and in fact may itself be both directly and indirectly responsible for the rapidly rising rate of infertility used to justify the development of new reproductive technologies