Büchler, Andrea

Leeners, Brigitte

German

ZORA

Zurich Open Repository andArchiveUniversity of ZurichUniversity LibraryStrickhofstrasse 39CH-8057 Zurichwww.zora.uzh.chYear: 2022Soll die Eizellenspende in der Schweiz legalisiert werden?Büchler, Andrea ; Leeners, BrigitteOther titles: Should Egg Donation Be Legalized in Switzerland?Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of ZurichZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-225345Scientific Publication in Electronic FormOriginally published at:Büchler, Andrea; Leeners, Brigitte (2022). Soll die Eizellenspende in der Schweiz legalisiert werden? UniversitätZürich: News.University of Zurich » UZH News » All articles » news » 2022 » Eizellenspende21 Dec 2022Human Reproduction Reloaded | H2RShould Egg Donation Be Legalized in Swierland?In 2021, the Science, Education and Culture Committee of the Swiss National Council submitted a motion tolegalize egg donation for married couples. The motion brought the discussion of an emotional topic into thepolitical arena – a discussion that also needs to be held in society at large. UZH News talked to lawyerAndrea Büchler and doctor Brigitte Leeners about the issues at stake.Brigitte BlöchlingerRealization of one’s desire for children is part of the personal freedomsenshrined in law (Image: iStock, Dobrila Vignjevic)Gone are the days when childlessness was a fate one simply had to accept. Thanks to advances in reproductivemedicine, couples who are unable to conceive naturally can now fulfill their desire to have children relatively easilyand safely.“In Switzerland, most causes of involuntary childlessness can be treated with very good results on both the femaleand male sides,” says Brigitte Leeners, head of the Department of Reproductive Endocrinology at theUniversityHospital Zurich (USZ) who holds the chair for Gynecological Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine atUZH. “One problem, however, is when a woman requires an egg donation. This may be the case if her own eggreserves are exhausted due to premature menopause, as a result of disease, or due to her age.” In such cases,would-be parents have to seek treatment outside Switzerland, as egg donation is prohibited in this country. Somecouples go to clinics abroad, Spain for example, where egg donation is allowed. When the man’s sperm is theproblem, on the other hand, Swiss law allows married couples to use sperm from a donor.Change of law in progressUZH - UZH News - Eizellenspende https://www.news.uzh.ch/en/articles/news/2022/Should-Egg-Donatio...1 von 4 12.01.2023, 17:19This unequal rule is now set to change. The Science, Education and Culture Committee of the Swiss National Councilsubmitted a motion to legalize egg donation for married couples, which was accepted by the National Council and theCouncil of States in 2022. The Federal Council was instructed to create the legal basis and pave the way for achange in the law.But what needs to be considered, from a medical and legal point of view, in the event that egg donations becomelegal? UZH News talked to physician Brigitte Leeners, head of the Department of Reproductive Endocrinology at theUniversityHospital Zurich, and lawyer Andrea Büchler, head of the University Research Priority Program “HumanReproduction Reloaded | H2R”.Brigitte Leeners, in your work as a doctor in reproductive medicine, who came to you for help until now, anddo you think different groups of patients will come in the future should egg donation be legalized inSwitzerland?Brigitte Leeners: I think the patients will be similar to today, because often couples or individuals don’t know whythey can’t get pregnant when they come to us. In most cases, they have been trying unsuccessfully for some time athome. For some couples, it just doesn’t work out, for others the woman’s period doesn’t come back after stopping thepill. Others know from the outset that they will need medical assistance – for example because the man has had avasectomy in the past, or because the woman has entered menopause prematurely. In the latter case, the onlypossibility of pregnancy is through egg donation. We would very much welcome the opportunity to treat womenaffected by this type of infertility in Switzerland.Until now, only sperm donation has been permitted in Switzerland. How is it managed?Andrea Büchler: Sperm donation has strict regulations: it must be done free of charge, anonymous donation is notpermitted, and neither is targeted sperm donation, i.e. the prospective parents cannot choose their donor, and a donormay not donate sperm to a specific person, for example their brother or cousin. The selection of the sperm donor ismade by the physician and is based on medical criteria to exclude health risks for the recipient as far as possible. Inaddition, the blood group and the similarity of the external appearance of the donor with the intended father may betaken into account – care is taken that the donor and the intended father do not look completely different. Any otherselection criteria are prohibited.Brigitte Leeners: In Switzerland, clinics and centers are free to decide whether they want to set up a sperm bank.For legalized egg donation, I think a pool system would be a better solution to keep things manageable, to meet theoverall need in Switzerland, and for optimum matching of donors and recipients.Would you welcome the legalization of egg donation in Switzerland?Brigitte Leeners: Absolutely. We are able to treat male infertility with sperm donation; we think it would be fair toallow us to treat female infertility with egg donation.Andrea Büchler: From a legal perspective, the question should be reversed. Instead of asking “should we allow eggdonation?”, we should ask “do we have the right to ban egg donation?” Realization of one’s desire for children is partof the personal freedoms enshrined in law, so there need to be good reasons to restrict access to methods that assistwith reproduction. The current ban on egg donation is a major restriction.What are the arguments against the legalization of egg donation?Andrea Büchler: People always cite the best interests of the child – but curiously enough, this legitimate concern isonly mentioned in connection with the legalization of egg donation, and not in the case of sperm donation. But there isno reason to believe that egg donation harms the welfare of the child. The mother-to-be carries the pregnancy to termand establishes a close emotional and physical bond with the baby during pregnancy. Protecting donors is anotherfactor cited in favor of the ban on egg donation.Brigitte Leeners, how much of a need is there for egg donation?Brigitte Leeners: For a few years now, we have been observing an increase in the number of women who have theireggs frozen for a possible future pregnancy – for example, because they have not yet found a partner with whom theyUZH - UZH News - Eizellenspende https://www.news.uzh.ch/en/articles/news/2022/Should-Egg-Donatio...2 von 4 12.01.2023, 17:19wish to have a child, or because a partnership in which they planned to start a family breaks down. Often called “eggfreezing”, this development means the pool of unused stored eggs is increasing. Personally, I think it would be a goodidea to legalize egg donation so that these frozen eggs could be made available to other women if they are notneeded by their owner.There’s a similarly unsatisfactory situation with surplus embryos from couples who have successful fertility treatment.It is not permitted for these couples to donate the embryos to others either, even if they expressly wish to do so.Andrea Büchler: This is known as “egg sharing”. In such cases, a woman decides to have some of her own eggsremoved and frozen for possible later use, so the argument about protecting the egg donor no longer applies.Egg donation is much more medically complex than sperm donation. Donor women have to undergo a minor invasiveprocedure to retrieve the eggs, which could be stressful or lead to complications. Sperm donation, in comparison, iseasy and has no side effects. Is the current ban on egg donation really an “unacceptable inequality”, as the motionstates?Andrea Büchler: I hear this question again and again – but the logic is faulty. The unequal treatment that needs to beaddressed doesn’t relate to the medical procedures involved and the need for regulation due to the differences inthose procedures. Rather, the inequality relates to the prospective parents, specifically the would-be mother. Aninfertile woman is unable to fulfill her constitutionally protected desire for a child with the help of a donated gamete inthe way an infertile man can; she has no access to treatment.Removing this inequality does not mean that egg donation should be regulated in exactly the same way as spermdonation. Obviously, specific precautions must be taken to protect the donor, and donors and recipients must be givencomprehensive information about the possible risks associated with egg donation.Brigitte Leeners: From a medical point of view, the risks are very manageable today. For example, the hormonetreatment which the donor has to undergo to make the egg retrieval possible is very low risk. The hormones that theintended mother receives before embryo transfer are close to the natural cycle and are only needed in the first weeksof the pregnancy.In the past, childlessness was something people just had to accept. Today, sperm donation is permitted, eggdonation will probably also be legalized soon, in some countries surrogacy is accepted... Where do you drawthe line, ethically? Or to put it more simply: should everyone be able to fulfill their desire to have childrenwith the help of reproductive medicine?Brigitte Leeners: In my opinion, there’s no general answer to this but only individual ones, depending on the overallsituation of a couple. If the initial situation is complex, we at the Department of Reproductive Endocrinology proceedcarefully by discussing and making decisions in an interdisciplinary team which includes ethicists. In all cases, thebest interests of the child are of course paramount.The interview partnersProf. Dr. Andrea Büchler is director of the University Research Priority Program “Human Reproduction Reloaded |H2R”, which investigates the rapidly changing possibilities of reproductive medicine with regard to the social, ethicaland legal implications. She holds the chair of private law and comparative law at UZH.Prof. Dr. med. Brigitte Leeners is head of clinic and research director at the Department of ReproductiveEndocrinology at the UniversityHospital Zurich and holds the chair for Gynecological Endocrinology andReproductive Medicine at UZH, she is also chair of the Woman and Child Division in the Faculty of Medicine atUZH.  She is a member of the egg donation expert group of the Swiss Society for Reproductive Medicine (SGRM).Brigitte Blöchlinger, UZH NewsUZH - UZH News - Eizellenspende https://www.news.uzh.ch/en/articles/news/2022/Should-Egg-Donatio...3 von 4 12.01.2023, 17:19© University of Zurich | 12 Jan 2023 | About this site | Data Protection StatementMore informationsProf. Andrea BüchlerProf. Brigitte LeenersHuman Reproduction Reloaded | H2RMotion «Kinderwunsch erfüllen, Eizellenspende für Ehepaare legalisieren» (“Fulfilling the desire to have children,legalizing egg donation for married couples”)TagsMedicine and Dentistry LawUZH News – University Research Priority Programs21 Sep 2022Workouts for the Brain24 Aug 2022Catching Butterflies3 Aug 2022Global Spread of Powdery Mildew through Migration and Trade25 Aug 2020“An ideal funding instrument”20 Feb 2020The Underestimated Threat18 Dec 2019The Hydrogen Society29 Oct 2019Fading Petunias15 Oct 2019Fertile Ground2 Jul 2019Splitting Water22 May 2019Opening Our Eyes to Nature19 Mar 2019How Big Data Is Transforming Linguistics14 Mar 2019Why Kidneys Form Stones18 Sep 2018Biodiversity from Above16 Aug 2018Rethinking Our Relationship with Nature21 Jun 2018The Secrets of Kidneys8 May 2018Researching Arctic Vegetation2 Jun 2017UZH collaborating with Asia Society16 Feb 2017Understanding BiodiversityUZH - UZH News - Eizellenspende https://www.news.uzh.ch/en/articles/news/2022/Should-Egg-Donatio...4 von 4 12.01.2023, 17:19

Soll die Eizellenspende in der Schweiz legalisiert werden?

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Soll die Eizellenspende in der Schweiz legalisiert werden?

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