A Nobel Fail

In The Nobel Prize That Wasn’t , today’s second “On the Square” feature, our managing editor Mary Rose Somarriba explains why “why this year’s Nobel Prize for the discovery of IVF represents a failure.”

Aimed at creating fertilized embryos, IVF destroys many more than it creates. Aimed at producing successful pregnancies, IVF results in twice as many failed attempts as successes. Aimed at healing the traumatic experience of infertility for many women, IVF brings with it a multitude of traumatic experiences for women—including years of failed attempts, miscarriages, and the difficult choice of which baby to abort when a prospective mother finds she has conceived more embryos than she could bring to term.

A man should not be rewarded with medicine’s highest prize for inventing a technology that depends on, and encourages, the disregard of human persons.