Homologous and heterologous artificial insemination in male sterility: medical and psychological aspects

Abstract

The problems that arise in treating male sterility are of a technical and psychological nature. The following technical problems with important ethical implications are presented: the collection methods, the treatment (in order to evaluate the fertilizing capacity, increase the capacitation, and the manipulation for selective and eugenistic reasons) and conservation of the sperm; the screening of sperm "donors"; the regularization of the sperm banks. The psychological problems, which are more obvious when the couple opts for a heterologous artificial fertilization, are also present in homologous procedure. From the "negligence" that the male partner feels because of the traditional gynecological approach to the problems of couples' infertility, to the frustration of the impotent male, which is in contrast with a culture that associates virility with fertility, to the need to accept the continuous presence of the "ghost" of the genetic father in heterologous artificial fertilization: later on these factors cause friction in couples that had previously accepted to report to these techniques.