Embryo’s whakapapa protected
Authority safeguards baby’s heritage in donation to mother of different ethnicity
AMa¯ori couple were allowed to donate embryos to help a lifelong friend of a different ethnicity have a baby, with the caveat that she explores “what it means to raise a child that is Ma¯ori”.
Any baby born as part of the arrangement would be the full biological child of the donor couple, full sibling to their existing children and have no genetic link to the friend, the child’s surrogate mother.
According to the decision by the Ethics Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (Ecart), both parties intended to share the child’s whakapapa with them.
The decision said the donor couple had embryos left from their own IVF treatment and wished to donate to the friend.
“The committee noted that any resulting children will be Ma¯ori and a different ethnicity to the recipient woman. The committee noted that although the parties in- tend to share and support the knowledge of any resulting children’s whakapapa, consideration of the difference in ethnicity and what it means to raise a child that is Ma¯ori has not been explicitly explored in counselling sessions. The committee would like to be assured that this has been explored and acknowledged through counselling.”
Ecart said it would also need to be assured that consideration of the difference in ethnicity between the mother and baby would be discussed in counselling sessions.
All parties had agreed to be open with any resulting child and the donor couple’s existing children.
The decision acknowledged there was a clear medical reason for the woman undertaking treatment with donated embryos.
It also noted that the application did not contain a reference to guardianship and considered it to be important to have in place given the recipient woman’s single status.
Ecart secretariat Hayley Robertson told the Herald it did not keep records of how many applications involved embryo donors of a different ethnicity to the recipient. But another recent decision tells of a couple — one of whom is Ma¯ori — who also had embryos created from IVF treatment and wanted to donate them to a couple of a different ethnicity. They had connected via a fertility clinic. “The donor couple have children born from the embryos and consider their family to be complete,” the decision said.
“They would like to give their remaining embryos a chance at life. They discussed the importance of any resulting children growing up with awareness of their Ma¯ori wha¯nau and the ability to connect with their whakapapa through the proposed donation arrangement.”
The recipient couple already had an adopted child and felt it would be better for that child if a new baby also had no genetic link to them. But the committee pointed to its guidelines which state “the procedure is the best or the only opportunity for intending parents to have a child”. They queried whether the couple had considered using the woman’s eggs.
The committee said it wanted to see issues, including how any resulting children’s knowledge about their Ma¯ori heritage might be supported and safeguarded, further explored. The application was deferred.