Embryo donation

Legal basis of donating and receiving embryos

Couples who are infertile can go to the banks of donated embryos and by performing medical procedures, the embryo is transferred to the uterus of the infertile wife to spend its development period and then be born naturally. The request of infertile couples to receive donated embryos must be reviewed in court and embryo transfer can only be done with the permission of the court. For this reason, in addition to the fact that the transfer of a donated embryo to the womb of an infertile wife is a religious matter, it also has certain legal procedures.

How to donate an embryo

Voluntary couples who are legally married can donate one or more embryos to specialized infertility treatment centers voluntarily and free of charge. This couple should have normal physical and mental health and appropriate IQ and should not be addicted to addictive and psychoactive substances. Not suffering from incurable diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis, etc. is another condition for embryo donation. Infertility treatment centers can store the sperm resulting from the ectopic insemination of legal and religious couples, which will be up to five days from the fertility stage, in fresh or frozen form in a special embryo bank, so that after issuing a definitive ruling from the judicial authorities, it can be sent to eligible infertile couples to donate. It should be noted that it is forbidden to inseminate the sperm and egg cells of an unmarried man and woman with each other, and the embryo must be obtained from the cells of a religious husband and wife.

How to receive the embryo

If a couple is not able to have a child based on a valid forensic medical certificate or expert doctors, but the wife is physically capable of raising and growing the fetus in her womb, they can request the court to receive the fetus. According to Article 2 of the law on how to donate embryos to infertile couples approved in 2003, “the request to receive a donated embryo must be prepared jointly by the husband and wife and submitted to the court…” Also, according to Article 4 of this law, “the examination of the eligibility of the applicant couple in the family courts, out of turn and without observing the formalities of the civil procedure will be done. In order for couples to submit their request to the court, they must have Iranian citizenship and have moral competence; none of them should be mad or stupid. Couples should not be suffering from incurable diseases and drug addicts.

How to submit an application to the court

The request to receive the fetus must be submitted to the family court of the place of residence or residence of the couple; However, regarding whether an official petition must be submitted to the court for such a request, or whether a request is sufficient, the Supreme Court of Iran has determined the task and stated in the unanimous ruling No. 755: “From the provisions of the law on how to donate embryos to infertile couples, especially Article 4 thereof. Regarding the jurisdiction of the court, it is said that the couple’s request to receive the fetus is not a matter of arbitration, and the provisions of the Law of Procedure of General Courts and the Revolution in Civil Affairs regarding the handling of lawsuits are prohibited from it. Based on this, the couple’s request can be processed in the court of their place of residence without submitting a petition.

Therefore, the couple’s request to receive the embryo can be written on a normal white sheet and signed by the couple; Of course, in order for the court to satisfy the conditions of the couple to receive the donated embryos, it is necessary to submit the copies of the original birth certificates and marriage certificate, the necessary medical documents regarding the couple’s infertility, as well as the certificate of absence of illness and addiction, attached to the couple’s application and submitted to the court. Of course, after reviewing the documents provided, the court may refer the couple to forensic medicine for more tests or more specialized examination. In any case, if the court determines that the couple has the necessary competence, it will refer them to one of the infertility treatment centers to receive a donated embryo, so that the other stages of the work can be done.

Other regulations for donating or receiving embryos

According to the executive regulations of the law on the method of donating embryos to infertile couples approved in 2014, specialized centers for the treatment of infertility must first of all transfer embryos donated by Muslim and non-Muslim donors separately and in accordance with the religious compatibility of the applicant couples with the donated embryos to maintain at the time of transfer. Therefore, the embryo from a Muslim couple should be donated to a Muslim couple, and if possible, the donor couple’s religion should be the same as the applicant couple’s.

In addition to this, the reception, storage and transfer of donated embryos are strictly confidential and the donor couple and the applicant couple should not be informed of each other’s identity. According to the note of article 6 of the regulation, “information related to donating embryos is classified as general information.” Therefore, any publication or violation of this information will be accompanied by heavy punishment.

If you have any questions regarding donating or receiving embryos and related rulings and you need guidance, our experienced lawyers and consultants at the Asia Lawyers Group will answer your questions.