Access to fertility services by transgender persons: an Ethics Committee opinion
Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine
Committee members:Judith Daar, Paula Amato, Jean Benward, Lee Rubin Collins, Joseph B Davis, Leslie Francis, Elena Gates, Sigal Klipstein, Barbara Koenig, Laurence McCullough, Robert Rebar, Richard Reindollar, Mark Sauer, Monique Spillman, Rebecca Sokol, Andrea Stein, Sean Tipton, Bruce Wilder, Laurie Zoloth, …
Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (2015). Access to fertility services by transgender persons: an Ethics Committee opinion. Fertility and sterility. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2015.08.021
Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Access to fertility services by transgender persons: an Ethics Committee opinion. Fertility and sterility. 2015. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2015.08.021
Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. "Access to fertility services by transgender persons: an Ethics Committee opinion." Fertility and sterility, 2015.
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RRM Academy Synopsis
ASRM says transgender status alone cannot bar access to fertility care
In 2015, the ASRM Ethics Committee said clinics should not deny fertility services based on transgender status alone. The opinion addresses transgender people who want to preserve fertility or use assisted reproduction.
Study at a glance, ethics committee opinion: ASRM says transgender status alone should not bar fertility services. Source: Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 2015, PMID 26363388.
Key Findings
The Committee concludes that transgender status alone should not automatically bar anyone from fertility preservation and assisted reproductive services.
The Committee sees no ethical basis for refusing reproductive services to transgender individuals, unless other factors disqualify them on empirical evidence.
For transgender patients seeking fertility services, the Committee holds that a clinician's freedom to choose whom to treat yields to a greater ethical duty of equal regard.
Before gender transition, the Committee says, providers should offer fertility preservation options, and patients should hear about distinctive medical risks.
The Committee says assisted reproduction requests deserve equal handling whatever the gender identity, and programs lacking resources have an ethical duty to help with referral.
The ASRM Ethics Committee's Position
“This statement explores the ethical considerations surrounding the provision of fertility services to transgender individuals and concludes that denial of access to fertility services is not justified.”
Quoted verbatim from this paper.
Interpretation
This ethics committee opinion draws on ethical argument and on prior studies of parenting by transgender people, including a 12-year follow-up of 42 French children. The authors note that long-term effects of hormone therapy on gametes and offspring remain unstudied. The findings support further research into these long-term outcomes.
RRM Context
The opinion addresses who may receive fertility preservation and assisted reproduction. Restorative reproductive medicine looks for and treats the causes of reduced fertility in a person or couple. The opinion gives no guidance on that work.
Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.
Abstract
This statement explores the ethical considerations surrounding the provision of fertility services to transgender individuals and concludes that denial of access to fertility services is not justified.
Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 2015
Ethics and Policy › Reproductive Ethics › LGBTQ Rights
Judith Daar, Paula Amato, Jean Benward, Lee Rubin Collins, Joseph B Davis, Leslie Francis, Elena Gates, Sigal Klipstein, Barbara Koenig, Laurence McCullough, Robert Rebar, Richard Reindollar, Mark Sauer, Monique Spillman, Rebecca Sokol, Andrea Stein, Sean Tipton, Bruce Wilder, Laurie Zoloth, 0000-0003-0284-2845
J Daar, P Amato, J Benward, L Collins, Joe Davis, Joey Davis, J Davis, L Francis, E Gates, S Klipstein, Barb Koenig, B Koenig, Larry McCullough, L McCullough, Bob Rebar, Rob Rebar, Bobby Rebar, R Rebar, Rick Reindollar, Dick Reindollar, Rich Reindollar, R Reindollar, M Sauer, M Spillman, Becky Sokol, R Sokol, A Stein, S Tipton, B Wilder, L Zoloth
PMID 26363388 26363388 DOI 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2015.08.021 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2015.08.021 Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine et al. 2015, Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine 2015
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