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How reproductive and regenerative medicine meet in a Chinese fertility clinic. Interviews with women about the donation of embryos to stem cell research

Lookup NU author(s): Emerita Professor Erica Haimes, Professor Christoph Rehmann-Sutter

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Abstract

The social interface between reproductive medicine and embryonic stem cell research has been investigated in a pilot study at a large IVF clinic in central China. Methods included observation, interviews with hospital personnel, and five in-depth qualitative interviews with women who underwent IVF and who were asked for their consent to the donation of embryos for use in medical (in fact human embryonic stem cell) research. This paper reports, and discusses from an ethical perspective, the results of an analysis of these interviews. The participants talked of extreme social pressure to become pregnant. Once they had a baby, 'spare' embryos lost practical significance due to the Chinese one-child policy. In the context of decision making about donating embryos to research, the women used the clinical distinctions between 'good and bad quality' embryos and also between frozen and transferred embryos, as guiding moral distinctions. In the absence of concrete information about what sort of research their embryos should be used for, the women interviewed either refused consent (for fear that the embryo would be given to another couple) or accepted, expressing motives of solidarity with other women in a similar situation. This reveals that they filled the knowledge gap with an image of research improving fertility treatment.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Mitzkat A, Haimes E, Rehmann-Sutter C

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Medical Ethics

Year: 2010

Volume: 36

Issue: 12

Pages: 754-757

Print publication date: 27/10/2010

ISSN (print): 0306-6800

ISSN (electronic): 1473-4257

Publisher: BMJ Group

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jme.2010.036764

DOI: 10.1136/jme.2010.036764


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