A Belgian woman, left sterile by chemotherapy, has successfully given birth after her ovarian tissue had been removed and frozen, prior to chemotherapy, then re-implanted.
On one hand, it's nice to know that women won't be forced to be sterile after cancer treatments. On the other hand, the above article mentions that this technique might allow women to postpone childbirth a couple of decades, as the eggs apparently don't age while they remain embedded in the frozen tissue.
Do we need women giving birth so late? I can so easily see some neurotic woman marrying well early in life, having ovarian tissue preserved, squeezing out baby after baby, and just as her original ovaries reach the point-of-no-return phase, getting that ovarian tissue back and giving birth to another dozen or so.
That's disgusting.
Never mind the notion that people might really want to consider having less children, so we're not forcing more and more people to cope with less and less. Medical science, when good, is great--but when bad, is downright decadent. Just ask anyone who's had multiple plastic surgeries.
OK, my mini-rant is over. Congratulations to the proud and lucky woman, and I hope she feels the same way I do about the potential for this therapy to be abused.
No comments:
Post a Comment