It all began with the development of in-vitro-fertilization (IVF) techniques

primarily as a means to help infertile couples bear children. The world was amazed
with the birth of the first test tube baby in 1978 in Britain. Research from then
onwards has led from one thing to another-from gamete intra-fallopian transfer and
zygote intra-fallopian transfer to surrogacy and micro-manipulations. Recently, a
British business woman gave birth to twins in a fertility clinic in Rome using
donor eggs implanted in her uterus. What startled Europe and the whole world was
that the woman was 59 years old. This was followed by report from Italy that a
black woman had given birth to a white baby using donor eggs to provide a better
future for her child and the latest bombshell has stuck with the prospect of
transplanting eggs from aborted fetuses and cadavers to deliver babies. Thus, the
latest controversy is over embryo transplantation with donor eggs in post
menopausal woman, sex selection racial engineering, eugenic manipulations cloning
and use of ovarian tissues for cadavers and aborted fetuses. The basic argument
against these recent advances is that the new reproductive technologies, when put
into practice create a dangerous scenario by creating social, ethical and even
medical problems.

In India, it is artificial insemination by donor sperm (AID) that is on the rise.

Artificial insemination is done by using fresh or frozen semen. Frozen semen has
been largely preferred as it has less chances of transmitting infection. Besides
storing of sperms has other advantages- (i) it allows multiple inseminations, (ii)
it ensures anonymity.