ART includes all fertility treatments in which either the eggs or embryos are handled. It involves removing eggs and combining them with sperm in the laboratory and returning them to the woman or donating to another woman.

1. ASSISTED REPRODUCTION AND
THE LAW IN NIGERIA

2. Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, 5th July 2022
ART and Ethical Implications
by
Dr. Abayomi Ajayi

3. Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, 5th July 2022
Profile
• Introduction
Definition of ART
Ethics
• Scope of Assisted Reproduction
• Sticking points

4. Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, 5th July 2022
Introduction
ART includes all fertility treatments in which either the eggs or embryos are
handled.
It involves removing eggs and combining it with sperm in the laboratory and
returning to the woman or donating to another woman

5. Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, 5th July 2022
Ethics is the branch of Philosophy that deals with concepts of right or wrong.
It defines principles of decent human conduct in life and in various
professional endeavors

6. Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, 5th July 2022
Human reproduction has always generated more than its share of emotion
that exceeds the life and death issues of medicine - Gen 1:28
Even before the first IVF baby was delivered on July 25th 1978, many had
raised various ethical concerns about ART — Playing God

7. Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, 5th July 2022
No doubt, the most effective treatment of infertility — 8 million babies
Almost all it’s advancements have continued to directly challenge society to
reevaluate the way in which human, social justice and equality and claims to
genetic offsprings are viewed.

8. Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, 5th July 2022
Scope of ART
No longer only for infertility
PGT—A: prevents congenital abnormalities like Down syndrome and mental
retardation
- Gender balancing
PGT—M: for genotype selection
designer babies/saviour siblings
recurrent miscarriages
- Fertility preservation in cases of medical or social reasons
- Prevention of vertical transmission of HIV

9. Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, 5th July 2022
Sticking Points
• Access (cost)
• Age limit — 70 year old man
• Number of embryos to transfer
• Marital statues: single, same sex

10. Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, 5th July 2022
Use of donor gametes
• Known — mother using daughter as egg donor with step father’s sperm
— father wanting to donate for son
• Unknown: using donor’s gamete without partner’s consent

11. Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, 5th July 2022
• Ownership of embryos/gametes stored in case of divorce/death
• PGD: could we be discarding normal embryos?
• Sex selection
Fertility preservation: informed consents (no false hopes)
Surrogacy: Baby Gammy
IVF & religion

12. Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, 5th July 2022
Conclusion
Join the call for a culturally sensitive national regulation to guide practice in
this vital area of medicine.
“No copy and paste”
AFRH: non legally binding practice guideline

13. Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, 5th July 2022