The use of donor material in medically assisted procreation : psychological, ethical and legal research.

Infertility is becoming more and more of a social problem. An ever-increasing number of people are faced, both as an individual and as a couple, with the emotionel stress of subfertility and its treatment. The recent deterioration in the quality of the semen of Western man would appear to indicate that the problems will only escalate in the future. In addition, medical techniques have, over the years, gained an ever-widening field of application. This is, to a considerable extent, due to the deeper pool of medical expertise and more sophisticated technological possibilities. We have witnessed the emergence of oocyte donation, the donation of gametes from aborted foetuses, the development of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), etc.
We will select two subjects : donors and acceptors.
The purpose of the survey is to gain a better understanding of :
-the personality profile of the donor, of his family and his social background
-the motivation of the donors
-their attitude towards the donation itself and the child that might be conceived with their genetic material
-the donor's thought on the long-term effects of their donation.
The attitude towards egg- and spermdonation by men, women and students will also be questioned.