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Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on June 6, 2009
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/dep124
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
The online version of this article has been published under an open access model. Users are entitled to use, reproduce, disseminate, or display the open access version of this article for non-commercial purposes provided that: the original authorship is properly and fully attributed: the Journal and Oxford University Press are attributed as the original place of publication with the correct citation details given: if an article is subsequently reproduced or disseminated not in its entirety but only in part or as a derivative word this must be clearly indicated. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Fresh embryo donation for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research: the experiences and values of IVF couples asked to be embryo donors

E. Haimes1 and K. Taylor

Policy Ethics and Life Sciences (PEALS) Research Centre, Newcastle University, Citywall, St James Boulevard, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4JH, England, UK

1 Correspondence address. E-mail: erica.haimes{at}ncl.ac.uk

BACKGROUND: This article reports on an investigation of the views of IVF couples asked to donate fresh embryos for research and contributes to the debates on: the acceptability of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research, the moral status of the human embryo and embryo donation for research.

METHODS: A hypothesis-generating design was followed. All IVF couples in one UK clinic who were asked to donate embryos in 1 year were contacted 6 weeks after their pregnancy result. Forty four in-depth interviews were conducted.

RESULTS: Interviewees were preoccupied with IVF treatment and the request to donate was a secondary consideration. They used a complex and dynamic system of embryo classification. Initially, all embryos were important but then their focus shifted to those that had most potential to produce a baby. At that point, ‘other’ embryos were less important though they later realise that they did not know what happened to them. Guessing that these embryos went to research, interviewees preferred not to contemplate what that might entail. The embryos that caused interviewees most concern were good quality embryos that might have produced a baby but went to research instead. ‘The’ embryo, the morally laden, but abstract, entity, did not play a central role in their decision-making.

CONCLUSIONS: This study, despite missing those who refuse to donate embryos, suggests that debates on embryo donation for hESC research should include the views of embryo donors and should consider the social, as well as the moral, status of the human embryo.

Key words: embryo donors/hESC research/fresh embryos/ethics/IVF

Submitted on January 19, 2009; resubmitted on April 3, 2009; accepted on April 8, 2009.


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