As of right now, babies are born to two biological parents. However, by using lab-grown eggs and sperm, future babies might be born to just one.
According to the UK’s Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA), scientists are close to developing technology for eggs and sperm to be grown in the lab, making single-parent conception a reality. This process, known as “in-vitro gametogenesis” (IVG), involves generating eggs and sperm from skin or stem cells. Scientists believe this technology could be fully developed within the next decade, providing many new opportunities, such as removing age barriers to conception, same-sex couples having biological children together, and new fertility options for men and women.
Peter Thompson, chief executive of the HFEA, said: “In-vitro gametes have the potential to vastly increase the availability of human sperm and eggs for research and, if proved safe, effective, and publicly acceptable, to provide new fertility treatment options for men with low sperm counts and women with low ovarian reserve.”
Other possibilities are “solo parenting” and “multiplex parenting.” Solo parenting is where the egg and sperm are created by the same individual. Multiplex parenting is where “two couples produce two embryos and cells from these embryos would be used to derive eggs and sperm in the lab to create a final embryo.”
Even though this technology can open the doors to new possibilities, there are also several risk factors associated with it. The reduction in age barriers could lead to older women having high-risk pregnancies and children being born to much older parents. Along with these concerns, medical and ethical issues also arise in solo parenting. In solo parenting, because the child will be born to only one parent, there is a higher chance of the child expressing recessive genetic disorders. This is because since people carry two copies of every gene (one maternal and one paternal), the recessive gene is not always expressed. However, if both copies of the gene come from the same individual, there is a greater likelihood that the child will have a recessive genetic disorder. An ethical issue of solo parenting is that it is considered the complete extreme of incest and that it is so dangerous no one would consider it to be a safe process, as explained by HFEA member Frances Flinter. Because of this, the HFEA believes that IVG requires legal and ethical regulation before it can be used as a medical treatment.
Thompson said, “This is the latest of a range of detailed recommendations on scientific developments that we are looking at to future-proof the HFE Act, but any decisions around UK modernising fertility law are a matter for parliament.”
