Conventional vs unconventional assisted reproductive technologies: opinions of young physicians

In the last three and a half decades, an increasing number of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) have been developed, some of them already being used in clinical practice, while others will probably remain purely theoretical due to their associated ethical issues. The purpose of this study was to analyse the opinions of medical residents regarding various ARTs, both classical and unconventional. We conducted a multi-institutional survey among 142 medical residents in order to assess the views of young physicians of regarding ARTs. Most responders were in favour of medical procedures like gamete donation and surrogacy. When asked about more controversial procedures such as posthumous sperm procurement or reproductive cloning, most were against. Progress in reproductive medicine is made at a fast pace, as more and more couples are found infertile and as the birth rate in developed countries becomes smaller and smaller. If not carefully followed and regulated, this can easily lead to the development of highly controversial procedures, which can significantly alter the way we see human reproduction. As the law has a very traditional approach, it is often left behind by progress in this field, leaving potentially controversial procedures unregulated for long periods of time. During these periods, physicians have the very important role of analysing what is good and what is not and when to recognise procedures that go against general ethical and medical principles.