Today one couple in 5 in Italy is infertile. Of these, 20%, in order to have a child, must resort to heterologous fertilizationa technique possible only through the donation of gametes – eggs or sperm – by donors external to the couple.
In our country, however, this remains a great taboo. On the occasion of World Parents’ Day, Czechs Italynational association of assisted reproduction centersfounded in 1984, which has always had the institutional mission of promoting gamete donation, launched an awareness campaignthrough a video created by Just Mariaa company founded by Alessandro Albanese and Carlo Loforti.
The awareness campaign
In the short film, a customer comes in an imaginary “taboo store”., looking for a topic to ruin a family dinner. The seller offers a series of taboos, from the great classics to the most current: homosexuality, disability, micropenism, abortion. But the client wants something more: a topic that no one really wants to talk about. Here, then, comes to the shopkeeper’s mind infertility, very widespread, yet ignored by institutions, politics and the media. Just like gamete donation. In the end, however, the client also prefers to overlook these issues and choose a different one (“bisexual men”), so that infertility and donation still remain taboo. Taboos among taboos.
The eggs and sperm used by infertile Italian couples who resort to heterologous fertilization come from Italian donors in only 1% of cases. The rest of the gametes (99%) are imported from abroadwhere the practice is often encouraged with financial compensation): practically total importation leads to an exponential increase in costs.
But in Italy we continue not to talk about the topic of donation, despite heterologous fertilization has been possible for ten years as a result of Ruling no. 162/2014 of the Constitutional Court which abolished the ban that had been established by law 40/2004.
«With this campaign we hope not only to bring to the attention of public opinion the difficulties faced by infertile coupleswho have to resort to techniques with gamete donation, are forced to face”, explains Adolfo Allegra, president of Czechs Italy«but also to inspire a change in everyone’s perception of the problem and to promote gamete donations». And again: «Disclosure and awareness campaigns have never been launched in favor of gamete donation that would lead citizens to know the topic and take an interest in it. Yet, given the data in hand, more and more children in the future will be conceived with the help of medically assisted procreation techniques.”
How you can donate in Italy
All women aged 20 to 35 and all men aged 18 to 40, in good health and who have expressed, through a psychological interview, the real and convinced desire for their gesture, can donate their gametes. Donors remain anonymous and do not face any costs and, indeed, can access the results of the tests they undergo free of charge. Under our law, they have no obligation towards the unborn child. The first step is the interview with the doctor and psychologist, to collect the donor’s medical and personal history. Then the spermiogram is performed in the man and the study of the ovarian reserve in the woman. Subsequently, a blood sample is taken for infectious disease and genetic tests.
The donor will produce a new semen sample to be frozen and after six months a further blood sample will be taken to repeat the infectious disease tests. The donor, however, will be subjected to a pharmacological treatment for the induction of one multiple ovulation, followed by 3/4 ultrasound monitoring and a new blood sample for infectious disease tests; the last step involves the transvaginal egg collection using a minimally invasive technique.
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