Since the Swedish National Council on Medical Ethics last reviewed assisted reproduction in 2013, much has changed. Several reforms have been implemented: strengthened rights for children to know their origins, fertilization without a genetic link between parents and child, and extended storage periods for frozen embryos. Private providers are now permitted to carry out assisted reproduction using donated gametes. Children have been born following uterus transplantation. And what is not permitted here can be sought in other countries.
The Council has now conducted a new comprehensive review of the field and today publishes the report Assisted Reproduction – Opportunities and Choices. The purpose is to provide Parliament, the Government, and healthcare providers with a basis for future regulation and practice, and to stimulate broad public debate on the issues that still lack clear answers.
The Council takes a positive view of developments that make it possible for more people to become parents. However, we must now collectively take a position on fundamental choices. The desire of involuntarily childless individuals to have children must be weighed against other values: the rights of future children, the situation of families, and the future of society.
The report will soon be published in english.