MONTREAL, June 9 (LifeSiteNews.com) – For the first time in Canada the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS) has released statistics on the nation-wide practice of in vitro fertilization. The released statistics allow for the calculations of the number of preborn babies’ lives lost as a result of the procedures. An extremely conservative estimate based on the figures released finds that well over 9,000 human embryonic persons lost their lives during the in vitro procedures in 1999 alone. Although exact figures have not been released the IVF procedures resulted in less than 2,000 live births.
The determination of these results comes from the CFAS report that “4,290 in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles were started in 1999 – The overall pregnancy rate was 26% per cycle started – Complications occurred in less than 3% of cycles – On average, 2 to 3 embryos were replaced in the uterus – Two-thirds of pregnancies were singletons – Most of the multiple pregnancies were twins.”
The actual number of preborn lives lost to IVF last year could be vastly higher (more than ten times the 9000 figure) especially given that the report fails to mention the number and fate of the embryos created (usually ‘spare’ embryos are frozen, destroyed, or donated to other couples or to science for experimentation). The report also notes that only 17 of the 20 IVF centers in Canada responded with information.
(with files from Pro-Life E-News)