Sir Francis Galton, the cousin of the father of evolution, Charles Darwin, introduced a concept to the world in the 1930s known as eugenics. Sir Francis Galton himself said, "Eugenics is the study of the agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations either physically or mentally," (Gallagher). Although Hitler and the Nazi party of World War II gave this term a negative connotation through sterilizations and the preserving of the “Aryan” race, eugenics has evolved with modern technology and advanced with science to become a way to change, save and enhance lives (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). Scientists, doctors, geneticists and many other brilliant minds have contributed to transforming Galton’s concept of selective breeding into a way to allow infertile couples to have a healthy child, a method to eradicate horrific genetic diseases, and an endless realm for the future of medicine.
When prospective
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This process first became a success when Louise Joy Brown was born on July 25th, 1978. Brown became the first ever ‘test-tube’ baby born and the first of millions more to come. Louise’s parents described her as ‘a miracle.’ This is now a common description of one’s child for parents that have had success with in vitro fertilization (“The World’s First Test Tube Baby.”) In vitro fertilization is used to seven different types of infertility: Endometriosis, low sperm counts, problems with the uterus or fallopian tubes, trouble with ovulation, antibody issues that damage sperm or eggs, the inability of sperm to penetrate or survive in the cervical mucus, or an unexplained fertility problem. In virto fertilization requires the combination of sperm and eggs outside of the body. Once fertilized, the embryo is examined, and then if it is healthy, it is placed back in the uterus