Giving, Receiving, Repaying: Gamete Donors and Donor Policies in Reproductive Medicine

Abstract

Current practices of donor recruitment for medical fertilization procedures are analyzed in the light of Marcel Mauss' essay on the gift in primitive societies. In this perspective, donor policies seem primarily designed to spare infertile recipients the obligation to recognize the donor's contribution to these procedures, thus avoiding the kinship issues that they raise. Questions of meaning concerning donation, social recognition of the donor's role, and clarification of the relational issues underlying fertilization procedures are nevertheless essential elements in establishing their social legitimacy.

The Notion of the Gift in the Donation of Body Tissues

“…As stated elsewhere, there are multiple ways to conceptualise gifts and gift-exchange in social life (Berking 1999;Komter 1996;Osteen 2002;Schrift 1997;Vaughan 2004;Wyschogrod et al 2002), as well as numerous ways to think about the interplay of embodiment and ethics. Nevertheless, most discussions in the social sciences and bioethics about altruism and the gift begin with Richard Titmuss's influential book The Gift Relationship: From Human Blood to Social Policy, first published in 1970 (for early examples, see Murray 1987;Novaes 1989;Raymond 1990;Simmons 1991). As is well known, the book is a comparative analysis of the commercial system of blood transfusion that operated in the United States (USA) and the voluntary system that operated in the United Kingdom in the late 1960s and early 1970s.…”

To give or sell human gametes - the interplay between pragmatics, policy and ethics

“…No other "understanding" is possible, she argues. 68 Commodification facilitates the view of the gamete provider as a marginalised person who contributes only minimally and is simply a means to an end. Some gamete providers happily accept this marginalised role and, where payment was the incentive, it also symbolises the completion of the transaction.…”

The viewpoint of DNA donors on the consent procedure

“…It is a central problem, already seen in other contexts concerning the gift of biological substances, as soon as we get interested in the adjustments between the gift conducts and the work of medical institutions (Novaes, 1989(Novaes, , 1991. The introduction and the use of written and signed procedures would improve if accompanied on the one hand by a reflection on these questions of adjustment and on the other hand by a presentation in the interaction that comes not to contradict the fact that some participants assess that there are no reasons to 'mistrust' them.…”