Medicine Instead of a Partner? Assisted Reproduction and the Challenges of Single Motherhood by Choice.
Abstract
This study addresses the ongoing public debate in Czechia concerning the potential legalization of access to assisted reproductive technologies for single women. The authors analyze the validity of the arguments used in this debate from biological, psychosocial, ethical and legal perspectives, building on their areas of expertise. They also focus on topics often overlooked in public discussions of this issue: the anonymity of donation, a child’s right to know their origins, the psychosocial development of children growing up in single-parent families or without a genetic link to either parent, and the risks associated with the commercialization of the human body. The authors conclude that, given the current anonymity of donation in Czechia, any decision to expand access to assisted reproduction for single women would create significantly more problems than it promises to solve.
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