Sperm and egg donation are not exactly comparable. Nevertheless, their unequal treatment in the law is disturbing and outdated.
Artificial insemination of an egg cell in a clinic in Düsseldorf.
A look at the map makes it clear how restrictively reproductive medicine is regulated in Switzerland: In Central Europe, Switzerland, together with Germany, is the only country that bans egg cell donation. Everywhere else it is used in the context of artificial insemination. Just like other techniques that are available to reproductive medicine today to help couples fulfill their desire to have children, which cannot be achieved naturally.
In Switzerland, too, there are voices calling for egg cell donation; A corresponding motion is currently being discussed in the National Council. An evaluation of the Reproductive Medicine Act is also underway. This involves the question of whether the twenty-year-old law needs to be adapted to the new possibilities of reproductive medicine and to social change. The answer to that is: yes, definitely – and don’t be too hesitant!
The fact that Switzerland is not a revolutionary when it comes to reproductive medicine is made clear by the current parliamentary initiative to legalize egg cell donation. The method should only be open to married couples. This reading ignores the social change in values that has long since led to a pluralism of forms of life and love in Switzerland. In addition, the electorate has recently spoken out clearly in favor of marriage for all.
This pragmatism needs to be implemented in the Reproductive Medicine Act. All the more so since the majority of the population supports reproductive medicine. She last announced this during the vote on pre-implantation diagnostics – in which the child is genetically examined in the embryonic stage. Opposing winds came practically only from national conservative and church circles.
The current egg cell donation ban is so disruptive because sperm donation is also permitted in Switzerland. This unequal treatment of male and female germ cells means that a couple whose infertility is due to the man can be treated in this country without any problems and at the expense of the health insurance company. If the woman is infertile because she has no fertilizable egg cells, for example due to illness, medical treatment or advanced age, the doctor treating her must refuse to help her. All he can do is hand the woman the address of a fertility center abroad. Because what is forbidden in Switzerland can be obtained by a woman abroad – quite legally. This double standard must end.
Because there are no good arguments against egg cell donation. Or do we want to live in the past, when the unequal treatment of egg and sperm cells was justified by the legal principle “Mater semper certa est”? Accordingly, the mother of a child was always certain without a doubt. This legal certainty did not exist with the father. Tempi passati. The genetic paternity test has long since demystified the question of the father. When it comes to the question of the mother, the new options such as egg cell donation or surrogacy, which is also prohibited in Switzerland, have complicated matters. In this case, who is the mother: the egg donor, the surrogate mother, or the woman who “commissioned” the child?
Such legal puzzles are no reason to ban egg donation. It is better to offer and monitor them in your own country. This is the only way to tackle undesirable developments. In Switzerland, it should go without saying that children conceived through egg donation have the right to know who the biological mother is. In addition, commercialization of the egg cells must be prevented. Finally, it is important to note that women cannot donate their eggs as easily as men can donate their sperm. In women, this requires hormonal stimulation and medical intervention. Both are associated with a certain risk of complications.