Article Text
Abstract
The trend towards postponement of childbearing has seen increasing numbers of women turning towards oocyte banking for anticipated gamete exhaustion (AGE banking), which offers a realistic chance of achieving genetically connected offspring. However, there are concerns around the use of this technology, including social/ethical implications, low rate of utilisation and its cost-effectiveness. The same societal trends have also resulted in an increased demand and unmet need for donor oocytes, with many women choosing to travel overseas for treatment. This has its own inherent social, medical, financial and psychological sequelae. We propose a possible pathway to address these dual realities. The donation of oocytes originally stored in the context of AGE banking, with appropriate compensatory mechanisms, would ameliorate AGE banking concerns, while simultaneously improving the supply of donor oocytes. This proposed arrangement will result in tangible benefits for prospective donors, recipients and society at large.
- in vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer
- donation/procurement of organs/tissues
- allocation of health care resources
- cryobanking of sperm, ova or embryos
Data availability statement
All data relevant to the study are included in the article.
Statistics from Altmetric.com
- in vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer
- donation/procurement of organs/tissues
- allocation of health care resources
- cryobanking of sperm, ova or embryos
Data availability statement
All data relevant to the study are included in the article.
Footnotes
Contributors Both authors substantially contributed to the concept, writing and revision, and final preparation of this manuscript.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Read the full text or download the PDF:
Other content recommended for you
- The need for donor consent in mitochondrial replacement
- Mitochondrial replacement techniques for treating infertility
- ‘Social’ egg freezing and the UK's statutory storage time limits
- A brief and personal history of ‘what’s in a name’ in reproductive genetics
- What constitutes a reasonable compensation for non-commercial oocyte donors: an analogy with living organ donation and medical research participation
- Access to infertility evaluation and treatment in two public fertility clinics and the reasons for withholding it: a prospective survey cohort study of healthcare professionals
- Reproductive outsourcing: an empirical ethics account of cross-border reproductive care in Canada
- Research ethics and lessons from Hwanggate: what can we learn from the Korean cloning fraud?
- Good eggs? Evaluating consent forms for egg donation
- Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) versus conventional in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in couples with non-severe male infertility (NSMI-ICSI): protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled trial