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Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on April 21, 2009
Human Reproduction 2009 24(8):1779-1785; doi:10.1093/humrep/dep102
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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

OPINIONS

Fertility preservation for healthy women: ethical aspects

W.J. Dondorp1,2,4 and G.M.W.R. De Wert1,3

1 Department of Health, Ethics & Society, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands 2 Care and Public Health Research Institute CAPHRI, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands 3 Research Institute Growth & Development GROW, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

4 Correspondence address. Tel: +31-32-43-3881712; E-mail: w.dondorp{at}hes.unimaas.nl

There is currently much debate about cryopreservation of ovarian tissue or oocytes as a possible means of fertility preservation for women urgently needing potentially sterilizing medical treatment. Although both techniques are still experimental, some centres have started offering them also to healthy women who want to postpone childbearing until after they may have lost their natural reproductive capacity, or fear that they may not before that time find a partner with whom to raise a family. This article explores and discusses the ethical issues raised by this practice. We argue that there are no convincing a priori moral reasons why cryopreservation of ovarian tissue or oocytes should not also be available for healthy women. However, this is on the assumption of established techniques, also in terms of the efficient and safe use of any frozen reserve. The fact that there is still uncertainty about these aspects is rightly seen as a reason for only offering cryopreservation of ovarian tissue or oocytes in an experimental setting. But does that also mean that these techniques should presently only be available for a medical reason, i.e. for women facing iatrogenic fertility loss? We argue against this conclusion.

Key words: fertility preservation/ovarian tissue cryopreservation/oocyte cryopreservation/non-medical reasons/ethics

Submitted on March 3, 2009; resubmitted on March 18, 2009; accepted on March 26, 2009.


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