Permission for surrogacy is granted when a couple meets all legal conditions and in cases where a woman lacks a healthy uterus or has it removed and is thus unable to bear a child, said Dr. Mohammad Mehdi Akhoundi, head of Ibn Sina Infertility and Miscarriage Treatment Center.
At present In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) technology makes it possible to place the fertilized embryo of a married couple into the uterus of a surrogate. The surrogate then carries the foetus until birth and has no genetic ties to the child, he said quoted by Mehr News agency reported.
Surrogacy is a complex process in terms of medical, legal and psycho-social aspects, and requires accurate medical evaluation of prospective parents; mental health assessment of the surrogate woman and the legal proceedings, in order to achieve maximum success.
Applicant couples receive counseling about the procedures and also the rules, besides legal, social and psychological aspects of the process, he added.
Embryo Donation
Dr. Alireza Milani, a legal expert on medical ethics, said embryo donation as part of infertility treatment, implies borrowing the embryo of a third party and implanting it in another body. In other words “embryo ownership is transferred directly from the genetic parents to the adoptive parents.”
“The process has been ratified by the Majlis,” he said, adding that the embryo is tested before implantation.
Milani noted that the whole process of this method of infertility treatment is confidential and the identity of donors and receivers is not revealed.
