Should ART be offered to HIV-serodiscordant and HIV-seroconcordant couples: an ethical discussion?

摘要

Increasingly, fertility clinics are offering their services to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-serodiscordant couples where the woman is seropositive. In the case of HIV-seroconcordant couples, there remains a general reluctance to provide treatment. This attitude to seroconcordant couples is reminiscent of that once widely held towards serodiscordant couples when the risk of vertical transmission rates in pregnant women was greater than 1–2%. Due to recent advances in HIV clinical care and assisted reproduction technique (ART) procedures directed at reducing the risk of viral transmission during gamete transfer, where good healthcare is available, the current risk rate has fallen to 1–2%. This article deals with the ethical arguments of those who remain opposed to offering HIV-serodiscordant and HIV-seroconcordant couples access to ART. Until these arguments have been addressed, clinics providing ART to such couples cannot be assured that their practices are ethical.