Postmortem assisted human reproduction: A criterion for legislative enshrinement

Abstract

In the field of biogenetics, assisted human reproduction is one of the greatest achievements. The new civil order failed to include surrogate motherhood and postmortem assisted human reproduction techniques due to ethical and legal dilemmas. It is worth asking if it is possible to build an intermediate position between extremist theses that defend the realization of the technique or condemn it. Argentine jurisprudence has been developing an intermediate position with solid foundations that will probably gain legislative consecration over the years. Postmortem assisted human reproduction constitutes a special category of assisted human reproduction techniques, characterized by being carried out after the death of one of the members of the couple. The regulatory framework should be structured around basic criteria, such as the exceptional nature of the admission of presumed consent, limited to the presumed postmortem transfer of cryopreserved embryos at the time of death, and the iuris tantum presumption of presumed consent, based on the premise that an assisted reproduction treatment constitutes a process.