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Médecine de la Reproduction

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State of the art of embryo donation in France and in the world Volume 22, issue 3, Juillet-Août-Septembre 2020

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Author
CHU de Lyon, Hôpital Femme-Mère-Enfant, Service de médecine de la reproduction, Bron, France
* Tirés à part

Embryo donation (ED) is not authorized over the world, Europe included. In France, DE is forecasted in the first bioethical law enacted in 1994, however, the application decrees that made ED practice possible were printed only in 2001 (the official terms for ED were “embryo reception”); the first baby was born in France in 2004. However, ED activity has systematically been lower than gamete donation : in 2017, 18 children were born in France following ED. As observed in other countries of the world, couples preferentially choose donation of their embryos to research rather than to other couples (23.0% versus 13.4%, respectively). Moreover, less than half of couples declaring choosing ED confirm this choice and complete the procedure. The main reason explaining couple reticence regarding DE is the representation they have of their embryos, considered as potential children who would be sisters and brothers of their own children. The same observations are made in all world countries where ED is practiced. Data from international literature indicate that birth rates are meanly comparable to that observed following cryopreserved embryo transfer. Health of children issued from ED is good, both from somatic and psychological points of view. In foreign countries, many recipient couples or women do not wish telling their children about the origin of their conception.