Citizenship and gamete donation: socioethical issues in policy care and research

摘要

This presentation seeks to explore the role of sociological imagination in the context of research about gamete donation that builds on a multi-vocal approach grounded on the involvement of donors, recipients and health professionals, when occurring changes in the regulatory framework towards openness in donor conception and extension of access to sperm donation to single and lesbian women. It will do so by unpacking unexpected ethical dilemmas and methodological challenges associated with conducting a mixed-methods project that aims to broaden the canvas of understandings from which policy and practices in the field takes its bearings. Fieldwork experiences lay the groundwork for discussing socioethical issues in: 1) policy, by exploring opinions about governance of healthcare (e.g. assessment of national information campaigns, views on rights of ownership to gametes and their implication on consent regarding disposition of embryos created by gamete donation); 2) care, by analyzing people-centredness in clinical practices (e.g. privacy and confidentiality in the design and organization of a health setting); and 3) research, by critically addressing the challenges arising in connection to daily research relationships (e.g. interviewing participants in spaces “loaded” with mixed emotions for both participants and researchers, categorising participants who do not necessarily identify themselves with categories defined a priori by researchers, planning the circumstances under which various stakeholders could be joined together in a single discussion group, while guaranteeing the confidentiality of their identities and the right to be forgotten).