Monday, 6 September 2021

Keeping Them at the Back of the Freezer?

The UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is welcoming a government proposal to extend the potential storage of eggs, sperm and embryos for a maximum of 55 years (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/sep/06/people-able-to-freeze-embryos-sperm-and-eggs-for-up-to-55-years). Currently, there is a 10 year maximum period for the storage of materials for in vitro fertilisation programmes. The rationale behind the extension (government seem keen) is that 'people are choosing to enter parenthood later'. In vitro fertilisation is an expensive procedure and isn't available to everyone. There seem to be a number of problems associated with the change. When does the clock start? Some people are already in the 30's or 40's before they enter a programme. What about the resulting children, who may have parents die before they mature? What about people who decide to divorce, get a much younger partner and then use the stored products to start a new family? This would, in some cases, not to have been an option, without this extension of technology. I had always thought that in vitro fertilisation was mainly for the benefit of couples who couldn't, without help, conceive. This development sounds much more transactional. It is apparently intended to ask the donors every 10 years, if they want the storage of their eggs, sperm and embryos to be continued. What happens if one member of the pair does want storage to continue and the other one doesn't? I would have thought there were more urgent medical problems, than extending what is already a reproductive minefield.

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