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Intra-Family Gamete Donation: A Solution to Concerns Regarding Gamete Donation in China?

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Abstract

Gamete donation from third parties is controversial in China as it severs blood ties, which are considered of utmost importance in Confucian tradition. In recent years, infertile couples are increasingly demonstrating a preference for the use of gametes donated by family members to conceive children—known as “intra-family gamete donation.” The main advantage of intra-family gamete donation is that it maintains blood ties between children and both parents. To date there is no practice of intra-family gamete donation in China. In this paper, we investigate intra-family adoption in China in order to illustrate that intra-family gamete donation is consistent with Confucian tradition regarding the importance of maintaining blood ties within the family. There are several specific ethical issues raised by intra-family gamete donation. It may, for example, result in consanguinity and the semblance of incest, lead to confused family relationships, and raise concerns about possible coercion of familial donors. Confucian tradition provides a new approach to understand and deal with these ethical issues in a way that Western tradition does not. As a result, we suggest intra-family gamete donation could be an acceptable solution to the problem of infertility in China. However, further discussion and open debates on the ethical issues raised by intra-family gamete donation are needed in China.

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Notes

  1. For example, in the United States in 2003, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM Ethics Committee) published a report entitled Using Family Members as Gamete Donors and Surrogates (ASRM Ethics Committee 2003). In 2007 in New Zealand, the Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ACART) issued the Guidelines on Donation of Eggs or Sperm between Certain Family Members (ACART 2013). In the UK, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (Hamm) issued specific regulations in 2009 based on a paper on intergenerational gamete and embryo donation (Hamm 2009). In 2011, a guideline was issued by the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology´s Task Force on Ethics and Law (ESHRE Task Force on Ethics and Law 2011).

  2. Human genetic relations can be classified into first degree (sibling, parent, and child), second degree (aunt, uncle, niece, and nephew) and third degree (cousin) (De Wert et al. 2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, 9000, Gent, Belgium

    Juhong Liao

  2. Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Katrien Devolder

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  1. Juhong Liao
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  2. Katrien Devolder
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Correspondence to Juhong Liao.

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Liao, J., Devolder, K. Intra-Family Gamete Donation: A Solution to Concerns Regarding Gamete Donation in China?. Bioethical Inquiry 13, 431–438 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-016-9728-y

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