Embryos are human beings not property, says SPUC

London, 10 August 2002--The Society for the Protection on Unborn Children (SPUC) has expressed distress at recent disputes between estranged couples over the fate of their frozen embryonic children.

Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: "These disputes highlight the confusion that the IVF industry creates for society and the consequent devaluing of human life at its earliest stages. Human embryos are not simply sets of instructions for making a child, to be thrown away when no longer wanted, but members of the human race because of their fully human genetic identity."

Mr Ozimic added: "Whilst we sympathise with people suffering from infertility, they should not be offered treatments which, by their very nature, threaten the lives of the embryonic children conceived."