ABSTRACT
Scientists have been studying the physiology and cell processes of human ova since the 1920s; however, it was not until 1938 that the first successful in vitro maturation studies were performed with human ova. Scientists have argued that in vitro maturation and ova freezing are beneficial because they allow women with life-threatening illnesses such as cancer to become mothers. By providing more embryos, reproductive technologies such as in vitro maturation move the research beyond the context of infertility and into that of genetic engineering. One of the more disturbing implications of in vitro maturation is the potential in its application to harvest ova from aborted fetuses and cadavers. In general terms, the issues associated with the development of in vitro maturation technologies are only just beginning to emerge with the incremental expansion of their application within the clinical context.
