ABSTRACT
Since the birth of the first ‘test-tube’ baby, Louise Brown, in 1978, using in vitro fertilization techniques pioneered by Dr Patrick Steptoe and Professor Robert Edwards, there has been intense debate in the media on the subject of new reproductive technologies. It is almost impossible to open a magazine, switch on the radio or watch TV these days without coming across some reference to infertility or to new developments in reproductive technology. The dominant and framing discourse in this debate has been that of medical science. This medical adventure tale has been told in familiar terms of the conquest of unknown territory, in this case the ‘inner space’ of the female reproductive system and the recesses of the human gene. Media coverage has largely reflected this model of medical progress in which each new step is greeted as a miracle breakthrough. This is given human emphasis by reference to the ‘triumph over tragedy’, usually of an infertile heterosexual couple. 2 In this respect, in vitro fertilization is represented as the exemplary medical success story. Given the current glamour, status and huge commercial investment in biotechnology, it is perhaps not surprising that IVF has attracted the most attention and the highest funding of all infertility treatments. 3 Literally on the cutting edge, its popular image, the test-tube, is emblematic of science itself.
