'Test Tube Baby' Father of IVF:Did Robert Edwards Play God?

In vitro fertilization was one of those hotbed topics in the '70's that had the Vatican issuing statements on one side and the scientific community making just as pointed opinions on the topic from the other side of the issue.

Now, three decades later it is still occurring, as the British scientist Robert Edwards is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for medicine. The prize is due to his advances in the treatment of female infertility.

Vatican and Louise Brown on Robert Edwards

"Without Edwards there would not be a market on which millions of ovocytes are sold, and there would not be a large number of freezers filled with embryos in the world," a top ethics official, Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, of the Vatican said on Monday.

On the other hand, Louise Brown, who was the first child born utilizing the in vitro fertilization process in the '70's had this to say about the scientist receiving the Nobel who helped her mother give life to her, "It is fantastic news. Me and mum are so glad that one of the pioneers of IVF has been given the recognition he deserves."

It is unlikely that the proponents of Robert Edwards and his in vitro fertilization advances will ever regard him as anything but a scientific genius who aided women during their struggles with infertility. Likewise, according to a recent article in USA Today, his detractors are unlikely to go away ever thinking he is anything but a man attempting to play God.

Embryos not used for in vitro fertilization

"In the best of cases [of in vitro fertilization embryos] they are transferred into a uterus but most probably they will end up abandoned or dead, which is a problem for which the Nobel Prize winner is responsible," Ignacio from the Vatican said.

Was Robert Edwards playing God when he attempted to create life in a dish outside a woman's womb? Are women that are unable to have the children more likely to adopt the world's abandoned children?

Is it wrong for millions of embryos to be discarded like yesterdays take out--or experimented on in stem cell research--when they are never used for childbirth purposes? What's your opinion on in vitro fertilization and Robert Edwards winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in this regard?

Related articles:
British Scientist Robert Edwards 'He is responsible for the abandoned and the dead'

Judge agrees with embryonic plaintiffs: Federal law prohibits embryonic destruction

Resources: USA Today.com, National Post.com