Whose test-tube baby is Elisabetta anyway?
Rome – Elisabetta is only a week old, but already she is causing quite a stir. Conceived through in vitro fertilisation, she has acquired a family history of rare complexity. Depending which way you look at it, she either has two mothers or no mo ther atall. Her natural father has become her uncle, while her uncle has been registered as her father, writes Andrew Gumbel. Confused? So is most of Italy, which has been passionately debating the ethics of her case. The Catholic Church has denounced what it sees as an unholy trade in human life bordering on incest, while one of the country’s most eminent scientists has defended the family and the clinic which made the birth possible. Jurists campaigning to fill Italy’s legislative void on in vitro fertilisation described the case as a “complete mess”. Elisabetta’s story began more than two years ago, when her parents went to see a fertility specialist in Rome. Pasquale Bilotta fertilised a number of eggs in vitro and froze them for storage.
