A new infertility clinic based in Dublin says it will offer donor embryos to childless couples. The J. Marion Sims clinic, which set up in Dublin six months ago, will ask couples to donate their unused embryos from IVF treatment to other couples. They say that, unlike other Irish centres who destroy frozen embryos after five years, their clinic will ask the couples to donate their unused embryos to childless couples for adoption. This is the first time that so-called "donor embryos" will be available in this country.
The clinic in Rathgar in Dublin, which is run by two Irish gynaecologists, is the fourth Irish infertility centre to freeze embryos since the Medical Council lifted its prohibition last year. In Vitro Fertilisation can often produce more than the three embryos returned to the woman's womb. Most clinics are following the British guidelines, which will destroy the frozen embryos after five or ten years. The Rathgar clinic says that it is the only one that does not intend to destroy embryos. Instead, it intends to offer the unused embryos to childless couples who cannot produce their own. They say that this will be done through adoption of the embryos.
Up to now, Irish couples who wished to do this went to Britain where such a service is regulated by the Regulatory Authority there. There is no regulation and no laws governing assisted human reproduction here. Doctors here are governed by the Medical Council's guidelines, which outlaws the destruction of embryos. The Medical Council's chairman, Professor Gerard Bury, said that it would welcome anything that will help to clarify the situation and guide doctors in the area of reproductive technology. Independent Senator Mary Henry has proposed a private members bill to register clinics, and establish an ethics committee to regulate the area.
