Sperm on the high seas
Posted by Marcy Darnovsky July 2, 2008
Biopolitical Times
When Women on Waves take their ship into international waters off the coasts of countries where abortion is illegal, and offer early-term non-surgical abortions to women otherwise unable to obtain them, reproductive rights advocates cheer.
When wealthy patients in need of a kidney transplant travel overseas and arrange through brokers to obtain one from an invariably poor "donor" (as portrayed in the film Dirty Pretty Things), social justice advocates squirm.
A related scenario is the "sperm ship" launched by the founder of Denmark's Cryos International, one of the world's largest sperm banks. Cryos sent the ship and se(a)men into international waters off the coast of the UK to circumvent its 2005 decision lifting anonymity from gamete donors. This decision allows children born from donated gametes to request identifying information about their biological parents when they reach age 18, on the grounds that they have a right to know their genetic heritage; controversy over whether the rule is the cause of a shortage of donors continues.
How to think about the social and ethical issues raised by the sperm ship and other varieties of medical tourism that are designed to make end runs around national regulations? Two UK bioethicists discuss the problems and possible regulatory solutions in "The challenge of `sperm ships': The need for the global regulation of medical technology" in the Journal of Medical Ethics.
Hat tips to Keri Zug and Emily Galpern of Generations Ahead, and Susan Fogel of Pro-Choice Alliance for Responsible Research.
When wealthy patients in need of a kidney transplant travel overseas and arrange through brokers to obtain one from an invariably poor "donor" (as portrayed in the film Dirty Pretty Things), social justice advocates squirm.
A related scenario is the "sperm ship" launched by the founder of Denmark's Cryos International, one of the world's largest sperm banks. Cryos sent the ship and se(a)men into international waters off the coast of the UK to circumvent its 2005 decision lifting anonymity from gamete donors. This decision allows children born from donated gametes to request identifying information about their biological parents when they reach age 18, on the grounds that they have a right to know their genetic heritage; controversy over whether the rule is the cause of a shortage of donors continues.
How to think about the social and ethical issues raised by the sperm ship and other varieties of medical tourism that are designed to make end runs around national regulations? Two UK bioethicists discuss the problems and possible regulatory solutions in "The challenge of `sperm ships': The need for the global regulation of medical technology" in the Journal of Medical Ethics.
Hat tips to Keri Zug and Emily Galpern of Generations Ahead, and Susan Fogel of Pro-Choice Alliance for Responsible Research.
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