Family Medicine

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Tuesday, July 16, 1996

Ministry To End Bias Over Sperm Donations

 JERUSALEM (July 16) - The Health Ministry has agreed in principle to cancel regulations on sperm donation and in vitro fertilization that discriminate against unmarried women, the state told the High Court of Justice yesterday.

The court thus granted the state's request for a three-month delay in which to formulate new regulations. In the meantime, the ministry promised to grant exceptions to the current regulations on a case-by-case basis, to try to ensure that single women wanting such services can obtain them.

The announcement was in response to three petitions by several single women who had been unable to get approval for sperm donations. The petitions, filed by both the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and the Israel Women's Network (IWN), charged that regulations requiring single women to get approval from a psychiatrist and a social worker are discriminatory, since married women do not need to do so before getting a sperm donation.

Furthermore, said IWN attorney Rachel Benziman, many doctors are not aware that single women can get sperm donations even under these humiliating conditions, since there is still a regulation on the books saying single women are not eligible at all.

At the hearing, government attorney Osnat Mandel acknowledged that the current policy is improper, and agreed with the petitioners that ultimately, a new policy should be enshrined in legislation. In the meantime, she suggested the current regulations remain on the books, but with the understanding that the Health Ministry will make an effort on a case-by-case basis to ensure that single women do get sperm donations.
Both the petitioners and the justices objected to this, however. The petitioners said single women should not have to go through such a humiliating procedure, and petition the High Court every time it fails. Justice Mishael Cheshin said that if the current regulations are illegal, keeping them on the books, but ignoring them is an absurd solution. Under pressure from Justices Aharon Barak, Shlomo Levine, and Cheshin, Mandel agreed that reports from a psychiatrist or a social worker should be required only if the doctor in charge thinks the specific circumstances warrant it, and that such reports would not be demanded just because a woman is single.

Attorneys Benziman, Hadass Tagari, and Dan Yakir, representing the petitioners, all argued that this solution might be worse, because it allows doctors to decide arbitrarily. However, the justices indicated that it would suffice until legislation can be drafted, and gave the government three months to prepare appropriate regulations.

Wednesday, December 18, 1996

Surrogate Center In Haifa

The first center for surrogate-parenthood pregnancies has been opened at the private Check Center in Haifa. A recent law passed by the Knesset allows a public committee to approve surrogacy arrangements. The center, located at the Haifa Checkpost, assists couples who have received the go-ahead from the public committee. Couples looking for a surrogate will receive help in finding one and preparing a legal agreement. Then artificial insemination or in-vitro fertilization will be carried out. The staff also conducts a medical follow-up on the surrogate and gives emotional support to all three. The center staff includes doctors, psychologists and other counselors for the commissioning parents and the woman who will act as a surrogate and carry the fetus to delivery.