Reproductive donation practice, policy and bioethics’

Fertility and Sterility, 2019

This Ethics Committee report outlines the interests, obligations, and rights of all parties involved in gamete and embryo donation: both males and females who choose to provide gametes or embryos for use by others, recipients of donated gametes and embryos, individuals born as a result of gamete or embryo donation, and the programs that provide donated gametes and embryos to patients. This document replaces the document ''Interests, obligations, and rights of the donor in gamete donation,'' last published in 2014. (Fertil Steril Ò 2019;111:664-70. Ó2019 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 1998

Genetic material donation has become an integral part of the management of infertility. Sperm, oocyte and pre-embryo donation are successful both medically and technically. The practice of genetic material donation raises ethical, legal, religious and social issues. The practice of pre-embryo donation raises several unique issues, such as the status of the pre-embryo and its well-being. Medical problems which need to be considered include selection of the donors, evaluation of the recipients and quality control of the genetic material. The relationship between the biological and social parents, and the safeguarding of the interests of the offspring, may be resolved by specific legislation pertaining to each country. Potential pre-embryo banks should be subjected to licensing and should not be run by a commercial system. By practicing pre-embryo donation, the medical profession and society should consider not only the interests of the infertile couple, but also the interests of the offspring. 0 1998 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Reproductive Donation Practice, Policy and Bioethics (Richards, M., Pennings, G., and Appelby, J.B. (eds.), 2012, 270-288), 2012

The use of a donated embryo in assisted conception was first reported by Trounson et al. in 1983, when a female patient was successfully treated using an embryo created from a donor egg and donor sperm. It was deemed by the clinicians involved to be no different from egg or sperm donation, and indeed they postulated that it could be less problematic in that there would be no inequality in the genetic contributions of the parents (Trounson et al., 1983). However, embryo donation (strictly defined as treatment using donated embryos) raises distinctive ethical concerns and questions. In this chapter, we will focus on three areas which we consider key to debating these concerns, covering regulatory issues, the structure of the practice of embryo donation and ARTs generally, and the individual perspectives of recipients and donors. The first topic to be examined is the disparity in parenting selection criteria between embryo donation and adoption, two processes that share a structure whereby both result in a couple parenting a genetically unrelated child. In 2002, we examined the size of this disparity and concluded that it was not justified (Widdows and MacCallum, 2002). Here, we revisit and update the debate, in the light of changing laws regarding donor anonymity and changing social attitudes towards donor conception. The second key area relates to the decision whether to donate embryos in the first place. We investigate the extent to which the moral status of the embryo, as frequently debated in ethical analyses, has any influence on decisions of potential donors, and the need for consent to donation to be truly fully informed. In addition, there are ethical issues relating to the exploitation of donors (or ‘vendors’), particularly poor vendors, which are unlikely to be addressed by improving informed consent. Finally, we address matters relating to the way in which embryo donation impacts upon society’s perceptions of children. Developments in the ability to choose characteristics of donors, and the varying laws existing in different jurisdictions worldwide have produced structural changes in the practice of ARTs. Increasingly, the ethical debate has focused on ‘reproductive tourism’ and the ethical disquiet arising from this global market. Central to this argument are increasing concerns about the commercialisation of reproductive treatment, and the commodification which may result for the ‘products’ of this trade; the children created using these technologies. This chapter is available to be downloaded from this site in pre-publicaton version.

Fert In Vitro

Treatment with gametes donated by subjects other than those who wish to be parents is offered as part of assisted reproduction techniques in many countries. Ethical and legal concerns concerning gamete donation are discussed. Gamete donation constitutes a legal transaction, whose form is basically that of a contract, and in fact we are dealing here with a strictly regulated contractual object. The debate lies in considerations of legality and proprietorship. However, gametes cannot be compared with other parts of the human body. Their ability to originate another human being gives them a special status, which entails moral concerns. Nevertheless, and despite the fact that ethical evaluations may be a critical aspect, they cannot determine the legality of the act.

Reproductive Biomedicine Online, 2009

So far, more than 2 million babies have been born worldwide through assisted reproduction technologies. For many couples, there is no treatment except by involving a third party. Recently, embryo donation law has been approved by Iran's parliament and now it is legal in Iran. But there is a misunderstanding regarding the source of embryos: they can be obtained from surplus frozen embryos of infertile couples or embryos can be made from donated spermatozoa and eggs from fertile married couples. Here in this paper we discuss ethical, religious and legal aspects of these two procedures and present the advantages and disadvantages of them. Meanwhile, the new term 'both-gamete donation' was defined for the procedure that is practised here instead of 'embryo donation'. In conclusion we can say: (i) Iranian law means only embryo donation and covers only surplus embryos from other infertile couples and not both-gamete donation; (ii) as gamete donation is practised in Iran upon decrees of clergy leaders, we have no law or legislation against both-gamete donation; (iii) there are many ethical, legal and religious questions about both-gamete donation to be answered; (iv) ethical and religious questions are fewer concerning embryo donation compared with both-gamete donation; and (v) embryo sharing is a good way for donation of fresh embryos.

Social science & medicine, 1993

Gamete donation refers to the practice whereby either semen or eggs are donated by a third party to enable infertile individuals or couples to become parents. This paper examines the way in which gender is deployed as a resource for organizing the meanings attached to that practice. The gender aspects of gamete donation are not always immediately apparent since semen and egg donation are often described as being essentially the same. However, a closer examination indicates that behind the claim of equivalence lies a set of unstated assumptions about their difference. These assumptions are tied to ideas about the ways in which men and women are thought to behave more generally in relation to reproduction and the family. This paper draws on two sources of empirical data to reveal how these assumptions are used: first, data from a detailed analysis of the Wamock Report (established by the British Government in 1982 to inquire into and make recommendations on techniques of human fertilization and embryology), which includes a cross-national and historical comparison with other government reports; second, data from a series of in-depth interviews with members of the Warnock Committee. The analysis of the reports suggests that historically semen donation was associated with 'deviant' sexuality (masturbation, adultery, illegitimacy) though paradoxically the extant nature of Semen donation was then used to justify the acceptance of egg donation in later reports. This is despite the fact that in these later reports there are clear, albeit implicit, distinctions drawn between the two procedures in terms of donor motivation, the risks of being a donor, and the consequences of donation. These differences were more marked in the interview data. Committee members regarded egg donors as being very altruistic, whereas they frequently raised doubts about the motivations of semen donors. It is suggested in the discussion section of the paper that assumptions about gender and reproduction lead to egg donation being seen in a familial, clinical and asexual context whereas semen donation is seen in an individualistic, unregulated context of dubious sexual connotations. Therefore whilst assisted reproduction provides the chance to challenge gender assumptions, what we find instead is that the everyday reasoning practices of those involved in these policy discussions leads to a reinforcing of such views.

Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia / RBGO Gynecology and Obstetrics

Objective Assisted reproduction combines innovative technologies and new forms of procreation through gamete donation; however, it also leads to moral and ethical issues and to the wide application of referential bioethics. The objective of the present study was to understand the bioethical context of shared oocyte donation. Methods The present qualitative study used the Collective Subject Discourse methodology to interview donors and recipients in Brazil. Results Donors suffer from infertility, and in vitro fertilization opens the possibility of having a child; however, the cost is high, and helping the recipient is more important than the financial cost. The recipients regret delaying motherhood; adopting a child is their last option, and they desire to feel the physical stages of pregnancy. The recipients find the rules unfair regarding the lack of an oocyte bank and the fact that the treatment must be performed in shared cycles; however, oocyte donation makes it possible to real...

Iranian journal of reproductive medicine, 2014

The use of donated embryos has offered hope for infertile couples who have no other means to have children. In Iran, fertility centers use fertile couples as embryo donors. In this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of this procedure will be discussed. We conclude that embryo-donation should be performed with frozen embryos thus preventing healthy donors from being harmed by fertility drugs. There must be guidelines for choosing the appropriate donor families. In countries where commercial egg donation is acceptable, fertile couples can be procured as embryo donors thus fulfilling the possible shortage of good quality embryos. Using frozen embryos seems to have less ethical, religious and legal problems when compared to the use of fertile embryo donors.

Human Reproduction, 2007

The present paper focuses on oocyte donation for non-reproductive purposes, i.e. research and future therapy. The general principles of research ethics apply to these interventions. The proportionality principle demands that any possible harms to the oocyte donors should be proportionate to the possible benefits for society. The non-maleficence principle states that every reasonable effort should be made to minimize risks for donors. The position is adopted that, mutatis mutandis, women who donate oocytes for research should be treated similarly to research participants in clinical trials. This implies, among other things, that oocyte donors for research should receive reimbursement for all costs of the procedure and should get compensation for the time lost and inconvenience suffered during the treatment. In order to avoid malpractice and exploitation of poor women, a number of measures are proposed such as a ban on the import of oocytes.

The article analyses the debate on egg donation in Norway using source material from the parliamentary debate of amendments to the Biotechnology Law. In both policy documents on bioethics and the Biotechnology Law, gender is not a spoken issue, but bringing egg and sperm directly to the fore highlights how gender is implicated in bioethics debates. Gender perceptions affect the understanding of 'what egg and sperm may do' at the same time as the debate sets established perceptions of gender in motion. In Norway, gender equality is a valid and important premise within the general political debate. It is, however, contested as a valid argument in the context of egg donation, which therefore becomes a field of negotiations about the limits of equal opportunities. The article analyses the egg donation debate as a process of cultural co-production and asks how the Norwegian emphasis on gender equality influences the debate on egg donation and, vice versa, how debates of assisted reproductive technology (ART) reopen debates on gender in relation to reproduction and parenthood.