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Semen Banking and Artificial Insemination by Donor in France: Social and Medical Discourse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

Simone B. Novaes
Simone B. Novaes
Affiliation:
CNRS-IRESCO Centre de Sociologie de I'Ethique, Paris
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Extract

Artificial insemination with donor semen (AID) has recently come into public view—particularly in France—because of its association with a newer technique, the cryopreservation of semen. One of the oldest and simplest of reproductive techniques, used most frequently as a means of compensating for male infertility, artificial insemination was previously confined to the private clinician's office, where maximum confidentiality could be ensured. This shielded all of the parties involved—recipients, donor, and physician—from moral reprobation and the possible legal complications arising from the use of donor sperm. However, in the mid-twentieth century, some physicians and researchers in cyrogenics came up with the idea that the freezing and stocking of donor semen in banks might greatly improve the psychological conditions and facilitate the material arrangements for performing AID. Essentially, the donor's availability would no longer have to coincide with the woman's ovulation, meaning less inconvenience for the donor, more time for screening his medical history and running the necessary tests on his semen, and possibly a certain tempering of AID's adulterous connotations. Although results with frozen semen were not as satisfactory as with fresh (the probability of a pregnancy at any cycle is almost twice as great with fresh semen), the material and psychological benefits were considered greatly to outweigh the lesser efficiency of frozen sperm.

Type
The Cultural Shaping of Biomedical Science and Technology
Information
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , February 1986 , pp. 219 - 229
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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