Views differ on in-vitro fertilisation

Press, 3 May 1984, Page 8

Views differ on in-vitro fertilisation

PA Wellington Two Labour members of Parliament disagreed ‘ yesterday over whether in-vitro fertilisations should be stopped until legal questions were resolved. The member for Western Hutt, Mr J. J. Terris, said the technique raised a tangle of legal, ethical and social problems which could be resolved only by working out “an agreed frame of reference.” Until satisfactory legal guidelines were devised, the procedure should stop, he' said. But Labour’s health spokesman, Dr M. E. R. Basset, said that while everyone appreciated that complex legal questions were raised by artificial insemination programmes, “it would be a great pity if they were stopped in the meantime.” Mr Terris said that to stop in-vitro fertilisation, where the egg is fertilised by the sperm in a glass laboratory dish, might seem pre-emptory, “even heartless,” to couples whose only hope of having children appeared to lie in the A.I.D. (artificial insemination by donor) procedure. But a moratorium might, given overseas experience, avoid greater harm to prospective parents in the longer term. “Such a step will also ensure that, as a society, we

are given some opportunity to contemplate the possibility of a future which involves such things as sperm banks and genetic engineering before being led in that direction,” Mr Terris said. A committee of doctors, lawyers, and theologians should be appointed to make recommendations to the Government before legislation was tabled in Parliament. Dr Bassett said that he, as health spokesman, had given the party’s encouragement to both in-vitro fertilisation and A.I.D. programmes which “have the potential to provide a great deal of joy and happiness to parents who have not been able to have children. “I do not accept the argument that these programmes, which have taken a long time to develop in New Zealand, should be stopped,” he said. Mr Terris was expressing a personal opinion, he said. “Only recently did we receive news that the first successful implantation has taken place in Auckland. No doubt others will follow,” Dr Bassett said. “This seems to require extra urgency in dealing with the legal questions that are raised by such programmes and I would urge the Attorney-General, Mr McLay, to give an assurance that he is giving this matter his attention.”