A Review of Embryo Donation to the Infertile Couples in Iran

Embryo donation is an assisted reproductive technology and one of the most effective ways for treating infertile couples who are not able to have children by themselves at all. Although the approval of the law on embryo donation has partially resolved the issue of transferring the embryo to the infertile couples and has revolutionized the laws in Iran, has some drawbacks. This study aims to review the way of donating embryos to infertile couples in Iran. This is a narrative review study. Search for documents related to the research topic were carried out with no time limit and with the use of keywords including infertility, assisted reproductive technologies, donation, donor, recipient, embryo donation, rule, law, embryo donation law, and Iran, singly or in combination at the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Magiran, SID, Google Scholar and department of health and medical education's website, Islamic consultative assembly research center, comprehensive system of constitutional council's comments, legal and parliamentary affairs deputy of the judiciary and medical ethics and law research center. The embryo donation to infertile couples Act and its regulations were legislated by jurisprudence opinions and Islamic community conditions. Indeed, donors don’t donate the formed embryo, but they agree with giving gamete and reposing it to authorized infertility treatment centers, and the embryo formed is donated to the couples with a special condition. Although the embryo donation Act has some flaws that some actions should be taken to eliminate and correct, it should be acknowledged that approval of this Act and its regulations are one of the biggest measures taken in recent years in Iran. Moreover, given the legal, religious, and cultural contexts in Iran and because this kind of donation has the least legal problems, it has been able to solve many infertile couples' problems.