SHES 3375 CURRENT ISSUES IN GENETICS AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Discuss various aspects (eg. religious & science) on the issues related to the enforcement of termination of pregnancy under Malaysian Law (Sect 312, Penal Code) and the management of unused embryos in the process of in vitro fertilization. What are possible effects on society?

COORDINATOR NAME MATRIC NO. DATE

: PROF DR. NORZULAANI KHALID : RAUDHAH BT ABU SAMAH : IES090042 : 20 DECEMBER 2011

Termination of a pregnancy and unused embryos in the process of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) remain controversial issues, both from religious and secular perspectives. The purpose of this article is to discuss various aspects on the issues related to the enforcement of termination of pregnancy under Malaysian Law (Sect 312, Penal Code) and the management of unused embryos in the process of IVF and their effects on society. Termination of pregnancy or commonly called as abortion, resulting in the death of the fetus. Some abortions occur naturally because the mother has an injury or because a fetus does not develop normally or disorder that prevents the mother from carrying the pregnancy to term. This type of spontaneous abortion is commonly known as a miscarriage. According to Osborns Concise Law Dictionary, abortion can be defined as a miscarriage or expulsion of a human fetus before gestation is completed. Ibn Mansur in his book had literally defined the word abortion which comes from the Arabic word al-ijhadh to means dropping or throwing out. Technically the word abortion refers to the termination (dropping of child) of pregnancy before the completion of all stages of its development into a full human being.

According to the Section 312 of Malaysian Penal Code, whoever voluntarily causes a woman with child or pregnant women to miscarry, he or she shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both. Furthermore in the situation where the woman is quick with child, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine. The only exception under this section is when a trained medical doctor believe in good faith that the continuance of the pregnancy would endangered the life of the pregnant women or it may result to the injury to the mental and physical health of the pregnant woman greater than if the pregnancy were terminated.

From this enforcement, it could be said here that Malaysian position has a similarity with the Islamic criminal law position. Islamic law prohibits killing a baby before it is born. Abortion is permitted only when a trustworthy physician decides that continuation of pregnancy will cause much harm and ruin the womans life. In other words, abortion will only be allowed if continuation of pregnancy is going to endanger the life or health of the expectant mother; or if there is proven serious congenital abnormally in the embryo or fetus.

In addition, the performance of abortion should be done prior to the 120 days from the start of conception, which is considered according to the hadith or saying of the Prophet (pbuh) to be the time of ensoulment. Holy Quran makes it clear that a child should not be killed because the parents fear that they will not be able to provide and support him or her ; they should trust Allah to look after things: "Kill not your offspring for fear of poverty; it is we who provide for them and for you. Surely, killing them is a great sin." 17:32

Islamic schools, based on a tenable interpretation of the Holy Quran and teachings of the prophet, do not at all agree with those who say that a woman has full control over her unborn child as part of her body. Islam considers our bodies as a trust, which we have to preserve and maintain. It also confirms that the fetus is the creation of Almighty God. No one, not even the parents, has the right to make decision about his life, unless its presence threatens the life of the mother.

Other religion also highlighting this issue. From Judaism perspective, abortion is prohibited unless the life of the mother is at risk of death or if continuing the pregnancy causes a severe threat to her health. Although termination of pregnancy is not ideal there are exceptional circumstances such as rape where abortion is not forbidden. In these situations the rabbi would provide guidance as to the best course of action.

Buddhism, like Hinduism, believes that life begins at the time of conception. Right action, one of the rules of the eight-fold path, forbids killing. The act of killing will certainly produce punishment by way of the doctrine of Karma. Thus your life might be shortened or you will be more prone to disease. However, if enough good Karma has been built up it can overcome the bad Karma resulting from an abortion. Also the purpose for an abortion is important. If it is done out of good purpose, out of compassion, then the bad karma would be greatly limited. Thus a fetus can be killed if it is necessary to save the mother.

Does science have anything to say about abortion? Those who have taken embriology will know very well about the answer to this question. If you examine pro-choice arguments for abortion, you will find the proponents using such terms as "tissue" and "grams of material" (a weight). What they do not like to discuss is what that "tissue" consists of. In fact, the preborn human fetus is genetically a fully human being at the point of conception. As you will learn below, the aborted fetus is not just a "blob of tissue." Many abortionists readily admit that abortion is the killing of a living being. "We know that it is killing, but the states permit killing under certain circumstances." Dr. Neville Sender, founder of Metropolitan Medical Service, an abortion clinic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. "If I see a case...after twenty weeks, where it frankly is a child to me, I really agonize over it because the potential is so imminently there...On the other hand, I have another position, which I think is superior in the hierarchy of questions, and that is "who owns this child?" It's got to be the mother." Dr. James MacMahon, who performs D&X (also known as Partial Birth) abortions. "When you do a D & C most of the tissue is removed by the Olden forceps or ring clamp and you actually get gross parts of the fetus out. So you can see a miniature person so to speak, and even now I occasionally feel a little peculiar about it because as a physician I'm trained to conserve life and here I am destroying life." Dr. Benjamin Kalish, abortionist. From these statements, we can see that science itself admit that the abortion is one of the crime and ethically, it is not good step to terminate the pregnancy. We also can see that there is collaboration between Malaysian Law and science itself. In Vitro Fertilization or IVF is the basic assisted reproduction technique where it helps infertile couple of husband and wife to get a baby. In the IVF process, initially the woman is given hormones to stimulate her ovaries to produce multiple eggs. The eggs are then removed from her body in a minor surgical procedure, and are placed in an appropriate growth medium. When the egg has matured, it is placed in a container with a man's sperm, in hopes that fertilization will take place. In most cases, one or more fertilized eggs will be transferred to the woman's uterus soon after fertilization. One study indicates that this will result in pregnancy about 17% of the time, and a live birth about 11% of the time. The product of human conception is ordinarily called an embryo from the time of fertilization until about eight weeks thereafter. Usually, after the embryos have reached the four- or eightcell stage, several are simultaneously inserted into the woman's body to increase the likelihood of successful implantation.

As a general rule, no more than three embryos are inserted at one time in order to reduce the risk of multiple pregnancies. The unused embryos may then either be discarded or donate to a recipient who is either unable to produce eggs, or whose genetic background makes it inadvisable for her to use her own egg or frozen for later use or donate them to a research project. Embryos are discarded for a variety of reasons. Some do not develop normally, while others are found to carry genetic defects that cause serious disease. Some parents simply choose to discard leftover embryos when they are done with fertility treatment.

The question that may arises here is what are the ethical points of view regarding this unused embryos? Here are some answers that can make this question clearer. In all of the above options, the moral status of the embryo causes concern. Some have argued that the human embryo is the moral equivalent of a human adult or child. It should never be handled or manipulated outside the body, and should never be subjected to research. Some think that the embryo should only be manipulated if the procedure will directly benefit the embryo itself.

Others who are willing to allow IVF in some circumstances would require that all embryos that are fertilized and growing properly should be transferred into the mother; freezing and embryo donation are not morally acceptable because of their experimental status, and, for these people, disposing of spare embryos is also unacceptable. Still others argue that the very early human embryo is not morally equivalent to a human being, and that it is therefore acceptable to freeze the embryo or to perform limited research and to study the embryo until it reaches a later stage of development, perhaps 14 days after fertilization. It is argued that the value of the knowledge to be gleaned from this research, carried out in a respectful and closely monitored manner, outweighs our concerns about the moral status of the human embryo. But, what about the Islamic perspective regarding this issue? According to the North American Fiqh Council, the embryonic stem cell research was permissible under three conditions. One of the conditions is fertility clinics fertilize more than one ovum to increase the chances of success, unused embryos in IVF that will be destroyed may be used for research provided that this is done in the first few days after fertilization and provided further that the unused embryos are donated without financial. Then, according to the Muzakarah of

the Fatwa Committe of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs Malaysia held on 22nd February 2005 has discussed the ruling on therapeutic cloning on stem cell research. One of the decisions they had made is using frozen embryo or extra embryo in IVF process is permissible for research purpose. However, permission must be granted from the married couple who are undertreatment. The research on the embryo must be done before the embryo reach the blastocyst stage. Here, we can see Islam supports stem-cell research on these unused embryos from IVF. Under the Islamic principle of the purposes and higher causes of the shariiah (Islamic law), it is a societal obligation to perform research on these unused embryos instead of discarding them. Thousands of embryos that would be otherwise discarded every year in fertility clinics could potentially be used for research. From both issues, there may be possible effects on society. When there is an enforcement of termination of pregnancy in Malaysia, it prevents our country from being the worst social country in the world. But, the question is, how do Malaysia could prevent from getting this social status as there is no action taken from government towards the illegal clinics (clinics that serve the abortion service)? It also will affect the political status of Malaysia. If there is uncontrolled abortion in Malaysia, surely there is no country to cooperate with Malaysia in all courses. But, when there is an enforcement on abortion, it will give positive impact towards the political status of our coutry. Besides, by this enforcement, people would be afraid to have an abortion intentionally. At the same time, the social problem in Malaysia can be reduced and the society can live peacefully without any disturbances.

Then, what are the possible effects of the management of unused embryos in IVF? In my personal view, there is no major possible effect on the society instead, it will give impact towards the couple themselves. It is unlawful to discard the unused embryo intentionally because the embryo is also considered as fetus and it has a right to grow to become a perfect human being. There are also some parties that consider the starting of life begin from fertilization of egg and sperm although it is carry out in petri dish. Thus, discarding the unused embryos can also be considered as abortion. Meanwhile, for the case of frozen embryos, there are some ethical issues revolving around it. Usually, the frozen embryos are being kept for future usage. The physicians dont have authority to determine what they should do on the unused embryos without the consent of the couples. So, when the couple who owned the embryos have been deceased, what are the future of the frozen of unused

embryos? In many cases, the embryos will be left in the freezer which may cause another problem. Will they stay in the freezer without being managed? This is a big matter as the number of the frozen embryo will be increased day by day and hence, there will be insufficient place to keep the unused embryos which will then lead to either donating them for research or discarding them.

For the conclusion, both issues give good and bad impacts towards the society. Thus, all parties must play an important role regarding these issues and must take action for the sake of our religion, society and country.

Reference

1. The detrimental crime of abortion: A comparative study between Malaysian law and common law, 2009, Noor et al, Journal of Law and Conflict Resolution Vol. 2(3), pp. 046-052. 2. Abortion: An Islamic Ethical View, 2007, Kiarash Aramesh, Iran J Allergy Asthma Immunol (Suppl. 5): 29-33. 3. Religious aspects of contraception, 2006, Elphis Christopher, Reviews in Gynaecological and Perinatal Practice, Volume 6, Issues 3-4, Pages 192-198. 4. Ethical Issues in In Vitro Fertilization, 2008, Mary Carrington Coutts, Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal. 5. http://www.umich.edu/stemcell/faq/#section3 6. www.godandscience.org/doctrine/scienceabortion.html