Word: uteruses
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...century. The destruction of the fetus, the church teaches, is a morally indefensible attack on human life. The only exception is "indirect abortion," or abortion as an incidental byproduct of a necessary attempt to save the mother's life. Ectopic pregnancy and cancer of the uterus are grounds for indirect abortion. Rape and incest are not exceptions, because the fetus conceived has the same right to life as any other fetus...
...during the next 24 hours, in the twilight of an incubator set at body heat. If all goes well, several of the eggs will be fertilized and start to divide. When the embryo is at least two to eight cells in size, it is placed in the woman's uterus. During this procedure, which requires no anesthetic, Steptoe likes to have the husband present talking to his wife. "The skill of the person doing the replacement is very important," he says. "The womb doesn't like things being put into it. It contracts and tries to push things...
Second and third attempts will become easier and less costly with the wider use of cryopreservation, a process in which unused embryos are frozen in liquid nitrogen. The embryos can be thawed and then transferred to the woman's uterus, eliminating the need to repeat egg retrieval and fertilization. Some 30% to 50% of embryos do not survive the deep freeze. Those that do may actually have a better chance of successful implantation than do newly fertilized embryos. This is because the recipient has not been given hormones to stimulate ovulation, a treatment that may actually interfere with implantation...
...textbook case of an infertile couple. Diana's fallopian tubes and left ovary are blocked with scar tissue, ironically the result of an intrauterine device (I.U.D.) she used for three years. Even if an egg did manage to become fertilized, the embryo might be rejected by her uterus, which has been deformed since birth. Richard has his own difficulties: his sperm count is 6.7 million per milliliter, considerably below the number ordinarily required for fertilization under normal conditions. Says Diana: "I never thought getting pregnant would be so difficult...
Doctors place much of the blame for the epidemic on liberalized sexual attitudes, which in women have led to an increasing occurrence of genital infections known collectively as pelvic inflammatory disease. Such infections scar the delicate tissue of the fallopian tubes, ovaries and uterus. Half of these cases result from chlamydia, a common venereal disease, and 25% stem from gonorrhea...