AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES ISSN Print: 2156-1540, ISSN Online: 2151-1559, doi:10.5251/ajsms.2010.1.2.201.208 © 2010, ScienceHuβ, http://www.scihub.org/AJSMS Solving the problem of infertility among Christians: A bioethical appraisal Rev. Emeka C. Ekeke and Dr. Christian O. Uchegbue University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria Email: revekekemekus@yahoo.com, Phone: +2340837930856 ABSTRACT Infertility has become a terrible cankerworm destroying the joy of many couples the world over. Among Christians, this issue has grown to a monumental level so that many Christian couples question God’s power and ability. Today many Christian couples could do anything either good or bad to have children. This paper therefore examines some of the various biomedical approaches through which the problem of infertility could be solved among Christians such as artificial womb, artificial insemination, surrogacy, in-vitro fertilization and sperm and egg donation. The paper recommends, among others, that every Christian couple should know that God is the giver of children and look up to Him for direction and not plunge themselves into acts that they will regret about in the future. Keywords: Infertility, artificial, womb, Christians, surrogacy INTRODUCTION The issue of infertility or barrenness among couples has become a critical problem today in the world. The growth of infertility has led biotechnology researchers into trying some new things to solve this problem. This is why the idea of artificial womb, which formerly existed in fiction, is now becoming a reality. The practice of artificial insemination is now the order of the day in many clinics and hospitals in many countries such as United Kingdom, United States of America, New Zealand, Germany, Norway, India, Nigeria, South Africa and so many other countries. The issue of surrogacy has not abated despite so many critical issues surrounding it such as the idea of depersonalizing reproduction by creating “a separation of genetic, gestational, and social parenthood” (Meinke, 2001: 2). Surrogacy has also created a problem of benefit. This means that there is a change of motive in having children, not for their (children) sake, but for another’s benefit. The issue of sperm and eggs donation to solve the problem of infertility remains a critical problem especially among Christian bioethical scholars. In this paper, our intention is to carefully analyze all these issues, showing their benefits and problems and why they should either continue to flourish or should be abated especially among Christians. Artificial Womb or Uterus: In the field of ectogenesis, an artificial womb or uterus is a mechanism that is used to grow an embryo outside of the body of a female organism that would normally internally carry the embryo to term (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 2009, “Artificial uterus” p.1). In some cases, artificial womb serves as a replacement organ, which could be used to assist women with damaged or diseased womb to be able to conceive to term. It is believed by researchers that since the uterus is grown from the woman’s own endometrial cells (the mucous membrane lining the uterus, which becomes aggressively thicker and more glandular and has an increased blood supply in the latter part of the menstrual cycle) there would be minimal chance of organ rejection. This prepares the endometrium for implantation of the embryo, but if this does not occur much of the endometrium breaks down and is lost during menstruation. If pregnancy is established, the endometrium (the membrane lining the womb) becomes the decidual, which is shed after birth. This idea of an artificial womb first existed in science fiction like the one depicted by Aldous Huxley in his 1932 novel, Brave New World. Huxley saw in the future where children are grown in artificial wombs before being decanted into the world. A similar scenario is portrayed in Logan’s Run, where embryos are extracted from impregnated women to be grown in Maccano-breeder by a computer-controlled life- support system. These and many more fictions became the foundation for the research to see the workability of having an artificial womb (Wikipedia…, 2009 “Artificial uterus” p.2). Reynolds (2005-2009) narrates how the first primary research into the engineering of an artificial uterus was conducted by Dr. Hung-Ching Liu at the Cornell University Center for Reproductive medicine and infertility. She and her team observed that a fetus