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01-03-2013 | Reproductive Medicine

German guidelines for psychosocial counselling in the area of “cross border reproductive services”

Authors: Petra Thorn, Tewes Wischmann

Published in: Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics | Issue 3/2013

Abstract

An increasing number of couples and individuals with a desire for a child travel abroad for assisted reproductive technologies that are not available in their home country. This trend has been coined “cross border reproductive services” (CBRS), often comprising third party reproduction. In order to respect the welfare of all parties involved, the German Society for Fertility Counselling has developed guidelines for psychosocial counselling in this area in 2010. The following article raises some of the controversies in CBRS and introduces these guidelines.

According to a proposal by Blyth, Thorn and Wischmann (2011), [see references 2, 5‐7] the more neutral term “cross border reproductive services” is used in this paper instead of the potentially inappropriate term “cross border reproductive care” as “care” implies a benevolent notion that may not always be present.

In Germany, according to changes in the Embryo Protection Act in June 2011, PGD has become possible if the pregnancy results in a stillbirth or the child to be conceived suffers from a severe genetic disease.

Although there are several websites providing information of legislations in various countries (see 1.8 below), information such as the right of offspring to access donor information or the legal status of a surrogate are not always available nor is the information online always up-to-date or include typical clinical practice for those areas where there is no legislation (yet).

The Social Code, Section V determines which cases are excluded from reimbursement.

In many jurisdictions, the woman giving birth is the legal mother, her husband the legal father.

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Title: German guidelines for psychosocial counselling in the area of “cross border reproductive services”
Authors: Petra Thorn
Tewes Wischmann
Publication date: 01-03-2013
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
Published in: Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics / Issue 3/2013
Print ISSN: 0932-0067
Electronic ISSN: 1432-0711
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-012-2599-5

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German guidelines for psychosocial counselling in the area of “cross border reproductive services”

Abstract

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