Artificial Insemination

ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION Any process by which fecundation of an ovum takes place not as a result of the act of sexual intercourse, but as the result of sperm being deliberately introduced into the vagina in some other way. 1

Types of artificial insemination: 1. Homologous Insemination (AIH) – using husband’s semen. Artificial Insemination by Husband. 2. Heterologous Insemination (AID) Artificial Insemination by a Donor – using donor’s semen. 3. Confused Artificial Insemination (CAI) using a mixture of sperm from husband and sperm obtained from donor. 4.“Improper” Artificial Insemination (IAI) limited to certain techniques: dilation of the uterine cervix, collection of the semen found in the vaginal recess and its ulterior re-introduction into the uterus, so that sexual union can result in pregnancy: 2

Reasons for seeking artificial insemination: 1. Infertility – 2. Genetic reasons 3. Couples unable or unwilling to adopt children 4. As a therapeutic intervention for husbands 3

Infertility - impossibility for couple to conceive a child in the usual sexual way. Male: asospermia - no sperm * Oligospermia - low sperm count * Impotence - diabetes Female: • no ovulation • vaginal environment that is biologically inhospitable to sperm (immunologic incompatibility between husband’s semen and wife’s cervical or vaginal secretions) • anatomical defect in female: - small cervix - abnormal position of uterus 4

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Genetic reasons

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Couple do not want to transmit defective genes to offsprings.: * Tay Sach’s disease – carrier of recessive gene; * Huntington’s Chorea - carrier of dominant gene As a therapeutic intervention for husbands who are about to undergo surgery, drug treatment, or radiation treatment that may cause sterility or damage sperm cells, then semen samples may be frozen and ready for use when needed. 5

ETHICAL EVALUATION The major ethical objection to AI is - separates love-making and procreative aspects of human sexual activity. Ethical Principles Involved in Artificial Insemination: 1. Natural Law Ethics - morally illicit 2. Principle of Autonomy (-)

3. Principle of Human dignity (-) 6

ISSUES Legal issues - ambiguous 1. paternity 2. legitimacy 3. inheritance Social Issues: 1. sexual procreation - purely mechanical process; 2. promote the practice of eugenics & so denigrate the worth of babies that fall short of some ideal; 3. just another step down the road toward the society of Brave New world. Health Issues: Safety to the wife and to the potential child - danger of transmitting: 1. Genetic diseases to the child; or 2. AIDS to the recipient woman 7

Moral Issues: Church view: Rejected by the Church (Pius XII) * violates the non-transferable and inalienable rights to personalistic procreation; * against the inseparability and generative meaning of sexuality. * does not justify the risk that husband will be unable to accept the child whom he knows to be another man’s (unconscious hostility). * Woman does injustice to donor. Although he knows he is being exploited, he is the true father of the child and responsible for it – yet he is induced (payment) to surrender his responsibility in a dehumanizing way. * May give rise to possibility of spread of unknown genetic defects and the deleterious effects of unrecognized incest. However, “improper” AI may be allowed by the church on a limited case to case basis. 8