Embryo Donation in New Zealand: Considerations of the Health and Wellbeing of Children.

Embryo donation offers a potential solution to infertility for recipients of donated embryos, and also provides an alternative option for donors who do not wish to dispose of their surplus embryos after completing their own family through in vitro fertilisation. Embryo donation is an efficient and successful treatment for infertility, however the intentional division of social and genetic parenthood raises complex ethical issues. In New Zealand embryo donation for reproductive purposes comes under the remit of the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2004 (NZ) (HART Act). The principle in s 4(a) of the HART Act requires that the health and wellbeing of children born as a result of an assisted reproductive procedure be an important consideration in all decisions about that procedure. This article examines the application of this principle by the Ethics Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ECART) in its consideration of applications for embryo donation for reproductive purposes. It concludes that ECART's consideration of the principle in s 4(a) should be focused on mitigating any issues that might arise specifically as a result of using embryo donation as a form of reproduction.