ARTIFICIAL REPRODUCTIVE TECHNIQUES: A RELIGIO-ETHICAL EVALUATION OF TIV CONCEPT FAMILY AND THE USE TECHNIQUES

This book seeks to address the problem of infertility among Tiv people of central Nigeria. As it is with other tribes in Africa, the desire of the Tiv traditional family is to produce children in order to perpetrate the continuity of offspring as a Devine mandate. The Tiv people have a traditional world-view and value system where children are highly cherished and occupy a very important place in the family. However, this desire to have biological children is sometimes impeded by infertility leaving the couples frustrated. Traditional alternative remedies do not yield appealing result and couples who are caught in the web of infertility in some places are stigmatized, and in most cases, they become a subject of gossip. The need for Artificial Reproductive Techniques in Tiv society becomes an inevitable option because, it is capable of providing a humane and human friendly solution to the problem of infertility more than those traditional options including adoption of children. It is argued that, Artificial Reproductive Techniques more compatible with the Tiv religious and cultural yearnings in the aspect of achieving biological (blood) parenthood and childhood.