Fertility Technology Research and the Use of Human Beings as Property

In January 2020, an article in the Journal of Human Reproduction exploring whether human embryos could be obtained via uterine lavage and to compare their quality to embryos created via in vitro fertilization. Any embryo that was not removed via lavage was either prevented from implanting by giving the women injections of gonadotropin releasing hormone antagonists or aborted with either methotrexate or uterine curettage. This research was done using women in Mexico, who were paid the equivalent of over two months’ wages and who signed away their rights to their embryos, including agreeing to have an abortion if implantation did occur. Not only is this another instance of human beings being treated as property but is against the dignity of these women by turning them into, as one ethicist says, “human petri dishes.” Summary: Researchers continue to use people as objects to obtain their goals. In this case, it was poor women in Mexico and their embryos. The Editors of Journal of Human Reproduction enabled this by publishing the report.