Ethical Matters Regarding Fertility Preservation Strategies in the World of Assisted Reproductive Medicine
Ethical Matters Regarding Fertility Preservation Strategies in the World of Assisted Reproductive Medicine

Summary/Abstract: Many controversies lie between what is right or wrong in the field of assisted reproductive medicine. While ethics committees have not been always strict in a still grey area, nowadays, more and more restrictive and debated laws have started to make way. For example Great Britain has modified its legislation so that donors are no longer to be anonymous and, on reaching the age of maturity of the resulted newborn, they can obtain identifying information about their biological parent. Some authors argue that the parents are to decide whether or not they want to inform their child that one of them or both are not the biological parents. The question of secrecy has become controversial, when, in Great Britain, a proposal was made for an inclusion of the mention ”by donation” on the long version of the child’s birth certificate. Although we cannot force the parents to disclose this aspect to their children and this proposal has been rejected in the past, the last decade has seen growing support for the ”rights” to the truth of the newborn. Another important ethical matter, worldwide, is the question of accepting or not paid egg donation. One can argue many pros and cons concerning this issue; what we know for sure is that it can no longer remain unspoken. Some tried to hide willingly the fact that they offered money or forced employees to contribute for the benefit of “science”, like the case of Woo Suk Hwang that “earth quaked” the world of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) .In conclusion, ethical problems will always be part of the ART field, but it is up to us, as physicians to do what is right for our patients and why not, our own conscience.

• Details
• Contents