cbc-network.org
2025-11-08
We've all heard it before: a woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have. It's a fundamental truth of biology and has always defined the boundaries of reproduction. But what happens if this biological reality is no longer fact? What if we could take an ordinary skin cell and transform it into an egg? What if embryonic stem cells could be reprogrammed to create entirely new oocytes? Or what if we could even make an egg from a man's skin cell, completely eliminating the need for a woman's gametes altogether?
This might sound like science fiction belonging to a reality far removed from our own, but these are no longer merely hypotheticals. They are real and current developments in assisted reproductive technology, and much like the use of AI and robots to create human lives, they signal that the dystopian future of IVF is already upon us.
In vitro gametogenesis (IVG), the creation of gametes (egg cells and sperm cells) in a dish, is one of the most rapidly advancing fields of reproductive biology. With each new step forward, we are forced to confront serious ethical questions. The recent advancements in IVG once again blur the lines of what we can do and what we should do.
At the heart of this debate lies a difficult question: Are we entitled to a biological child by any means science can offer? And at what cost to the dignity of human life?