ABSTRACT
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a therapy developed by compassionate doctors to help humankind, according to the media presentation of it. Physicians launching IVF programs are themselves acting out of their belief about a woman’s nature and her biologically determined social role. Even if the women involved had fully understood that IVF was in the earliest stages of human experimentation and had knowlingly consented to participate in the programs. The appearance of voluntarism is deceptive, for the control over women begins long before they can voice a “free choice". In a manipulation of a woman’s body in the IVF programs, doctors delivering test-tube babies often do so by cesarean section, subjecting the woman to the risks of major abdominal surgery. Steptoe performed a cesarean on Lesley Brown because she developed toxemia, a life-threatening condition characterized by swelling of hands and face, excess weight gain, protein in urine and elevated blood pressure.
