Assisted reproductive techniques ethical and legal issues.

ABSTRACT

The rapid advancements in sciences have revolutionized modern medicine in a number of ways; genetic engineering, Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART), human cloning, stem cells etc. has opened up the unimagined and promise unquestionable and undreamed benefits to mankind. At the same time, they raise many questions of law and ethical issues relating to public interest, social and religious sentiments and family concern. Although ethical judgments may indeed express personal preferences and may be connected in complicated ways with cultural conventions, ethics itself is a form of rational inquiry that concerns how we should live and what we should do. Some ethical issues are matters of debate. The Delhi Government has promulgated legislation in this regard which is cited as “The Delhi artificial insemination (Human) Bill 1995. The Indian Council for Medical Research has laid down certain guidelines for clinics practicing of assisted reproductive techniques and handling of surrogates in India. There is a certain element of risk associated with all assisted reproductive procedures. It is, therefore, necessary to ascertain the therapeutic and research value of the AR procedure in each case.