Japanese government blocks in vitro fertilization procedures for HIV couples

The use of in vitro fertilization for HIV positive couples usually produces a child that are free of HIV. However, due to the slight risk of an HIV positive child being born and the possibility that the child’s HIV positive parents could die of the virus, the Japan’s health ministry recently decided to block the procedure:

Though hospital ethics committee approved the reproduction treatment plan, the ministry has asked the hospital to postpone implementation, saying more deliberation and ethical examination was necessary. In other countries, views are divided over whether reproductive assistance should be offered to couples in similar circumstances.

[...]

In 2004, a special committee of medical experts, mainly from the European Union, issued a recommendation that such reproductive medicine be limited to cases in which only the husband or wife is HIV-positive.

The committee recommended that at least one member of such a couple be responsible for raising a child until adulthood.

However, a British researcher argued future conditions widely varied among HIV-infected people, and that barring such couples from the in vitro treatment option would lower their quality of life.

Katsumi Ohira, director of Habataki Welfare Project, a Tokyo-based foundation for people infected with HIV through tainted medicines, said: “The most important thing is not to create new tragedies. It’s necessary to discuss who should be deemed responsible if babies are infected.”

In addition, support for such children would be essential if both parents die of AIDS before offspring reach adulthood. Ohira said: “Social welfare assistance would also be necessary. If the course of treatment is implemented, it should proceed while consensus is obtained from the broader society.”