Libertà procreativa e responsabilità morale. Le frontiere della PMA in Italia: i pareri delle donne

BACKGROUND Although in many countries gamete and embryo donation, and gestational surrogacy are legally permitted, in Italy they have been prohibited by law since February 2004. In April 2014 the Constitutional Court was asked to examine this ban according to the Italian Charter. The aim of this study was to investigate women’s opinion regarding aspects of Assisted reproductive technologies prohibited by law, such as oocyte and sperm donation, embryo donation to medical research or to infertile couples, and different kinds of gestational surrogacy. METHODS A questionnaire was sent to women between June and August 2014, trying to reach at least 25 year old women, who could see themselves involved in the situations proposed. RESULTS 177 questionnaires have been collected. The majority of the respondents agreed with gamete donation (78%), and most of them was likely to accept it only without financial reward (93%). 66% of respondents supported anonymous gamete donation, and disagreed with disclosure to the offspring (55%). Only 36% of women stated to be intentioned to donate their oocyte. The most important requirements for the recipient of donated gametes were considered to be age, medical history, and tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse (94%). 55% of women supported embryo donation to science and 75% to other infertile couples. Women considered gestational surrogacy to be acceptable only if no kind of relationship exists between the surrogate mother and the commissioning mother. CONCLUSION The results of the present study indicate agreement with gamete and embryo donation, although gestational surrogacy is far from been widely accepted. In June 2014 the last sentence issued by the Constitutional Court established that gamete donation must be permitted in some cases of infertility problems, but many questions are still opened, such as anonymous donation and selection of the donors. Those problems should be subjected to independent ethic committees, moreover if, as has been found, the widest consensus about allowing procedures now forbidden comes from women personally involved in infertility problems.