Fertility treatment: methods and legal situation

If the unfulfilled desire to have children is due to the man’s infertility, many couples can resort to the options of insemination or in-vitro fertilization – if necessary with the help of donor sperm. But what can couples do when their childlessness is due to the woman’s infertility? Can couples also use donated egg cells?

Unfortunately, the legal situation in Germany is clear. The German Embryo Protection Act prohibits egg or embryo donation. Surrogacy, i.e. another woman carrying the baby and a couple adopting it after birth, is also prohibited in Germany. A German doctor is therefore not allowed to advise a couple to undergo such treatment. In other countries, the legal regulations on these three topics are different. In the following we explain all three forms of fertility treatment in more detail and inform you about the legal regulations of other countries.

Fertility treatment: egg donation

If a woman is given a fertilized egg cell from another woman as part of in-vitro fertilization, for example because she cannot produce healthy egg cells herself, this is referred to as an egg cell donation. Normally, another woman’s egg is harvested and then fertilized with the partner’s sperm. The fertilized egg cell is then implanted in the woman through in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

Egg donations are prohibited in Germany under the Embryo Protection Act. However, they are allowed in other neighboring European countries such as Belgium, France or Spain. Such a treatment may also be carried out in the USA.

Fertility treatment: embryo donation

In in-vitro fertilization (IVF), a woman may be implanted with a maximum of three eggs. However, as part of the preparation for IVF, more than three eggs are usually fertilized to ensure that there are enough fertilized eggs available for IVF. The unused embryos can be donated to other couples who are unable to have children through another form of artificial insemination.

Like egg cell donation, embryo donation in Germany is also prohibited by the Embryo Protection Act. Here, too, other countries have made different legal regulations. In some countries it is completely permitted, other countries such as France restrict its use to exceptional cases or only allow it for research.

Fertility Treatment: Surrogacy

If a woman is completely unable to carry a child herself, some couples consider having a strange woman carry their baby. Often the idea of ​​fertilizing the other woman with the man’s sperm is thought of, so that the child is at least partly genetically descended from its parents. Or the woman and the man have their eggs and sperm removed beforehand, fertilized in a test tube and then implanted in the surrogate mother. The first case is called “partial surrogacy” and the second case is called “full surrogacy”. After birth, the child is usually handed over directly to the couple.

This practice is also prohibited in Germany under the Embryo Protection Act. However, the legal situation in other countries also differs when it comes to surrogacy. For example, while it is banned in Austria, Switzerland and Denmark, our neighbors in Belgium and the Netherlands allow it.

You can find more information on this and other topics related to fertility medicine in our subject areas “ Artificial Insemination ”, “Getting Pregnant” and “Infertility” .