Reproductive Technology

Reproductive technology Reproductive technology also known as Assisted reproductive technology (ART) is what encircles the majority of current use of technology in human and animal reproduction. This technology has turned many dreams into reality due to its aid in conceiving children for infertile couples.() The first use of a technique considered reproductive technology was in 1978 and the first time ART became legalized in the United States was in 1981. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3261493/ It has been shown that this technology gives safe, healthy, and improved reproduction. (1)Anonymous donation is a big part of reproductive technology; there are many donors who choose to stay unidentified, however, the system of keeping an anonymous identity is different in different parts of the world. Each country has its own system in how they legalize the anonymity of the donors.() Due to the fact that in certain parts of the world it is hard to keep a hidden identity it has raised many concerns on how ethical ART is in regards to personal and private information.()

Overview

Reproductive technology is used to assist with infertility and low fertility. There are many different types of techniques associated with reproductive technology. The most common is in vitro fertilization.

In vitro fertilization

In vitro means outside the body. In vitro fertilization is the combination of an egg and a sperm in a glass tube. This takes time because it requires the wait for a woman’s ovulatory process and then removing the eggs from their ovaries, when this is done and mixed with sperm a zygote undergoes embryo culture and then it is implanted back in the uterus to establish pregnancy and the development of a baby. This technique requires a long time due to the complicated method. ()

Types of Reproductive Technology

Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART): It uses medical procedure and involves in vitro fertilization (which is where a female’s egg is combined with a male’s sperm outside of the body). It also includes gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) which is an in vivo process by obtaining an egg from an ovary and mixing it with sperm in the body then reinserting it into the fallopian tube by GIFT. A similar procedure is called Zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT) the only difference is that the egg and the sperm are mixed in a lab setting rather than in the body. These techniques help low fertility or no fertility individuals to be able to have children. It also provides same sex relationships to conceive children.

Ethics

Recipients

Recipients have the ability to choose specific egg/sperm donors depending on various characteristics such as race, ethnicity, educational background, and/or religion. Recipients are also required to undergo evaluations where the physician must obtain a full medical history from the recipient and their partner, as well as a complete demanded physical exam and blood testing along with various gynecologic testings.() The recipients must also be screened for different disease such as syphilis, hepatitis B and C, HIV, West Nile and more.() Personal information on the recipients must also be saved, such as, name, date of birth, address, and all of the medical history.() This process alters human enhancement and plays with bioethics. In the 1980's, there were many concerns regarding ART for its safety, its consistency of various data from clinics regarding pregnancy success rate, and its accessibility for different economic backgrounds.(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3261493/#B8) Due to such concerns the government legislated the Fertility Clinic Success Rate and Certification Act in 1992 requiring all ART clinics to inform the CDC with all the data regarding performed procedures and success rates. The data transferred also includes personal information of all recipients and donors.() These laws were made to ensure that patients are well informed of the different clinics’ success rates, however this has taken a different route in which clinics started to indirectly manipulate their data. Clinics started to “cherry pick” their patients in order to increase their success rate.() This has led patients with a poor pregnancy prognosis to not have as much access to reproductive technology relative to those who have a higher chance of getting pregnant (). In order to avoid false optimism and unnecessary fears, patients value counseling and accurate information, therefore, the inaccurate measurements that were being made using various computer systems have affected those who are using reproductive technology to have children, giving them false hope.()

Third party system

This term explains the idea that a third individual other than the two main couples will be assisting in giving either eggs or sperm for the couple’s use.() This can be socially, legally, and ethically complex. There are many who perform anonymous donation which is donating without the reveal of their identity.() Some people, however, do choose to be known.()

Donors

All embryo donors are required to undergo intensive screening processes that include history and physical medical exams, as well as detailed genetic testings for diseases.() They also have to answer question regarding their sexual history, substance use, history of family disease and psychological history.() Such private information is mainly stored in computer system with access from the clinic.() However, one mistake is able to reveal much information.()

Special Case

Two couples, A and B, A the donors and B the recipients did not know each other. Couple A donated eggs to couple B and B left the country.() As couple A wanted to have children they found out that she cannot have kids anymore due to health reasons and now she was seeking to find couple B and ask if she is able to use some of the oocytes that she has donated before.() However, as couple A gets in contact with the clinic, the clinic makes an error and wife A learns the names of couple B.() She also learns that husband B is suffering from drug addiction withdrawal. Couple A also learns that couple B is international now.() This information was meant to be super private for couple B as that is what was communicated to them when they agreed to go on this journey with couple A. The level of anonymity couple B was promised was not true as when the clinic made one mistake of giving away the names of couple B there was a lot found out due to some internet search.()

Hidden Identity

There has been many controversies regarding the choice of a donor remaining anonymous. Many donor conceived adults have reported that they are using a combination of techniques where they are able to eventually find their original parents.() Many countries have abolished the anonymity of donors at a certain age for the conceived children.() There are many online utilities where with genetic/blood testing the donor’s identity could be easily found.() The use of ancestry registries is also beneficial in finding donor’s information.() Moreover, there are many online websites that are being developed and are already made and filled with a bunch of personal information of different individuals that could be found by doing a simple genetic test.() websites such as donorconeption.com, which help donors and the conceived children to find each other by combining various information.() This incredible use of technology decreases the likelihood of the donor’s identity to stay anonymous regardless of whether or not they wish to do so.() websites such as ancestry.com with family testa and register could easily find the donors.() Therefore, the offering of being an anonymous donor is not fully true in this day and age due to the developed online websites and technology that could find related individuals.() Therefore, donors as well as recipients in some manners, have to understand that even though the law allows anonymity is it subject to change any time and there is no full guarantee.() Many countries have already stopped providing anonymous donation duo to various reasons that mainly impact the donor’s conceived child.()

Issues

An experiment was conducted to measure how accurate the information the donors received prior to performing the procedure and how much they have suffered from long term side effects. A small majority of donors said that their experiences aligned with what they were told regarding the process, however about 30% of donors disagreed and stated that their experiences did not match the expectations.() Over 55% of the participants indicated that they did not receive accurate information about the long and short term effects of egg donations.() about 60% reported that they did had immediate medication side effects while approximately 40% stated that they have suffered prolonged side effects and were misinformed of such details.() These issues affect the trust and reliability of fertility clinics when it comes to donating eggs/sperms.() Misinformation regarding individual’s health is crucial and could eventually lead to death.() There are also religious, cultural, and political factors that play a role in egg donation which could cause various issues. For example, donors from different countries face many challenges due to home countries prohibiting egg or sperm donation.() The restrictions and illegalization is mainly due to religious factors which have impacted how these countries view egg/sperm donation.() However, countries like Germany, rather than religion, they are concerned with ethical identity factors of the mother who will be giving her own egg to someone else.() The embryo Protection Act of 1990 in German illegalizes embryo transfer due to the threat to the legal definition of the mother and motherhood arising from genetic, gestational, and social mothers.()

UK System

UK System The UK has a different law regarding egg/sperm donors and their anonymity. According to the UK law, egg or sperm donor’s conceived children once they reach 18 they have the right to know the identity of their egg donor.() However, the donor has no right over the child once they donate their egg/sperm and the child is conceived.() Therefore, the UK has recommended that those who want to stay anonymous for the time being must be open to the fact that their identity will eventually be “unhidden” and their donated egg/sperm conceived children will have the ability to find them and retain personal donor’s information such as: Name, physical description (height, weight, eye and hair color), the year they were born as well the country of their birth, their ethnicity, whether or not they had kids during the time of the procedure, their gender, their marital status, and medical history. Much of the private information will be revealed thru the use of computer system to the conceived children only.() The reason to this law is due to the fact that some children who grow-up knowing that they are conceived thru egg/sperm donation lose a sense to their identity which could have a long term side effect on them psychologically as well as mentally.()However, even thought the law of the UK does not entirely allow anonymity of donors it still handles the given information with sensitivity in assurance that it is being reached to the conceived child only.() There is a certain long process that the child themselves have to go through before they are allowed access to the donor’s private information.() Nevertheless, the law still warns regarding the fact that even though information is being handled with sensitivity, it is inevitable that home DNA testing and matching services that are available online can easily identify the hidden donors regardless.()

US System

The US is one of the few countries that still gives hidden donors the opportunity to stay hidden as long as they wish to. However, it is also inevitable that there are also genetic service and ancestry websites that donors’ conceived children could utilize to obtain information regarding their donors.() Nevertheless, there is not a specific law that allows the conceived child to access private information of the egg/sperm donor. Yet, to prevent the fact staying anonymous is a bit difficult with all the developed technology and computer online services/systems the US used a special technique where they made their donors choose to be known.() This technique was through money incentives, where in 2006 anonymous donors were paid $65 through the bank, however known donors will given up to $100 per donation.() They want individuals to choose for themselves rather than be forced to reveal identity, however with such a strong tactic how ethical this process is still unknown.() Additionally, similar to the UK, the donor has no right over the conceived child once eggs/sperms are donated.

Legal Issues

With such a complex process of egg/sperm donation legal issues are inevitable. Written consents are required for all procedures, incase where situations such as the donors or the recipients have a change of mind last minute or when the procedure is already done.() Recipients and donors both are advised to obtain a lawyer and sign a legal contact regarding the financial obligations and right of the donor with respect to the donated gamete as well as the rights of the recipients.()