Deck 6: Assisted Reproduction, Multiple Births and Elderly Parents

Question 1

Which of the following is FALSE about the history of assisted reproduction?

A) J. Marion Sims, M.D., produced a pregnancy by artificial insemination of a husband's sperm (AIH) in the nineteenth century in America, and was widely condemned for doing so.
B) After the birth of Louise Brown, the desire of many infertile couples for a biological child of their own led them to pay thousands of dollars per cycle in attempts to get pregnant through IVF.
C) Clinics offering assisted reproduction over the last two decades funded research into improving techniques for assisted reproduction out of monies generated from fees from their patients.
D) Chances of an older woman creating a baby that she can gestate increase substantially if an egg is used from a younger woman.
E) American adoption agencies charge the same regardless of the skin color of the baby adopted.

Answer 1

American adoption agencies charge the same regardless of the skin color of the baby adopted.

Question 2

Which of these is false about the history of assisted reproduction and its associated ethical issues?

A) The main factor allowing women over 50 to gestate babies is use of young, donor eggs.
B) Over fifty thousand babies have been born in America through assisted reproduction.
C) Due to the successes of assisted reproduction, most infertile parents eventually take home a baby.
D) More than one embryo is often implanted in the female of an infertile couple to maximize changes of pregnancy, but this increases the risk of multiple pregnancies and the later need for reduction of some embryos or fetuses.
E) IVF researcher Robert Edwards said he created a fertilized zygote in his lab one night.

Answer 2

Due to the successes of assisted reproduction, most infertile parents eventually take home a baby.

Question 3

In what year was Louis Brown born?

A) 1973
B) 1960
C) 1978
D) 1985
E) 1999

Answer 3

1978

Question 4

Which of these is FALSE?

A) All of the McCaughey children are normal.
B) All of the Octamom's children are normal.
C) Kate Goselin is well-off financially at present.
D) Women over age 65 have gestated a baby.
E) Most couples who pay for IVF take home a baby.

Question 5

Of 100 couples who pay for several attempts at in vitro fertilization, about how many take home a baby?

A) 25-30
B) 10-15
C) 50
D) 75
E) Nearly all

Question 6

The paradox of harm is dissolved analytically by:

A) Not begging the question.
B) Distinguishing various meanings of the word "harm".
C) Not harming any baby by bringing it into the world.
D) Not harming any baby by bringing any less-than-normal baby into the world.
E) Not harming any baby by bringing only superior babies into the world.

Question 7

Which of these is FALSE?

A) The total harm view in the law is called wrongful life.
B) In the case of wrongful life, lawyers claim that the lives of some babies are so miserable that their very existence is a tort.
C) Wrongful birth assumes abnormal harm, and claims not that the child's life is totally miserable, but that the child has been damaged by being born less than normal, and that a physician's action or omission caused the relevant defect.
D) Wrongful life suits are generally accepted by the courts.
E) With baseline harm, a potential being that doesn't yet exist cannot be harmed.

Question 8

In the McCaughey case of septuplets, what was the fate of the babies?

A) They all died.
B) They all lived and all are healthy.
C) They all lived, but at least two have cerebral palsy.
D) Two died.
E) Six of the seven babies either died or have severe disabilities.

Question 9

What is the biggest biological barrier to pregnancy in an infertile couple trying to conceive?

A) Amount of sperm
B) Quality of sperm
C) Age of male providing sperm
D) Age of egg
E) Age of female gestator

Question 10

Today, the Vatican holds that in vitro fertilization is morally:

A) Permissible to create life
B) Permissible when a couple have loving sex to create life
C) Permissible in a married couple to create life
D) Permissible in a married couple to create life who have first adopted a child
E) Impermissible