Review article

Ethics of assisted reproductive technology

Boris Ujević orcid.org/0009-0006-7433-606X ; Department for gynecology and obstetrics, Clinical Hospital "Sveti Duh", Zagreb, Croatia *
Antonio Ivan Miletić ; Department for gynecology and obstetrics, Clinical Hospital "Sveti Duh", Zagreb, Croatia

* Corresponding author.

Abstract

Assisted reproductive technology (ART) is a set of procedures that technologically control and assist gamete transport, egg fertilization, implantation, and pregnancy development. The English term assisted reproductive technology emphasizes the key role of technology more clearly than the Croatian term. It is estimated that to date, at least 12 million children have been born in the world from in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures. ART procedures include intrauterine insemination with the husband’s sperm, in vitro fertilization (IVF), embryo transfer (ET), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), freezing of gametes and embryos, surgical extraction of sperm from the testicles (testicular sperm extraction – TESE), and secondary ICSI in which the previously frozen egg cell is fertilized by the ICSI procedure after thawing. Depending on the legal regulations in some countries, insemination with donor semen, donation of gametes and embryos, the concept of surrogacy or gestational carrier, treatment without a partner, postmenopausal infertility treatment, uterus transplantation, pre-implantation diagnostics, and screening are allowed. The development of ART raised many ethical, legal, and sociological challenges in contemporary society. Infertility is a chronic condition of often complex etiology that needs to be diagnosed and treated in the same way as chronic diseases are treated. The generally accepted approach to infertility treatment includes the approaches to infertility as a technical challenge and dysfunctional process that needs to be overcome. That kind of approach (adequate for treating acute diseases) is in contradiction with the medical canon. According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, fertilization is ethically acceptable only if it results from the sexual intercourse of a married couple. Moreover, the procedures of insemination, in vitro fertilization, pre-implantation diagnostics, embryo freezing, surrogacy, and experimentation on human embryos are considered unethical. The position of the Catholic Church on biomedical research and ART is expressed in the Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, known as Donum Vitae (Gift of Life), approved by Pope John Paul II.

Keywords

spirituality; ethics; in vitro fertilization; IVF; restorative reproductive medicine

Hrčak ID:

322315

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/322315

Publication date:

11.11.2024.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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