IVF in Argentina 20 years on: why are we still lacking regulation?

ARIZA, LUCÍA

Lancaster

Jornada; 12th Colloquium of the Postgraduate Forum on Genetics and Society ?Bio and Social Sciences ? A Critical Collaboration??; 2008

Postgraduate Forum in Genetics and Society, Lancaster University

More than 20 years after the first conception took place in Argentina with the help of reproductive technology, the country still lacks formal regulation of the medical field. Although this is a characteristic shared with many countries in the region, such an ´absence´ can be better understood as a local specificity, a particular ´fullness´ or repletion that needs to be explained. This paper will explore some of the key issues that define current attempts to legislate infertility treatment, paying special attention to the restrictive character of such proposals. Where there have been attempts to regulate pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PDG) this will be looked at in particular. Drawing on these materials, it will be argued that the lack of regulation is partly due to the inherent difficulties of arriving at a social consensus that engages and supports the interests and moral views of vast sectors of society.