Legislative Aspects Regarding Trafficking in Human Ova and Embryos

Abstract

The massive development in recent years of all reproductive technologies has led to the emergence of a new form of trafficking. In the last period, the international community is concerned with the fact that the advances that have been achieved in genetics and biomedicine have been diverted from their purpose by a series of individuals, who collaborate in organized groups and obtain huge amounts of money. In general, they exploit women, considering them more important sources of genetic material, cells or tissues, such as oocytes or placenta, but at the same time, heterosexual and homosexual couples are also exploited, the criminals taking advantage of their inability to procreate. In this way a reproductive market has been created, if we can call it that, where human embryos, cells or tissues are traded like any other kind of good. It is well known that techniques such as surrogate motherhood or trafficking involving human eggs cause serious repercussions both nationally and internationally, this fact being driven by the distribution and collection networks that have been formed recently.