A review of human rights, legal, ethical and religious aspects of Surrogacy in Iran with an emphasis on its counseling issues

Document Type : Review Article

Authors

1 PhD student of Reproductive Health, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Reproductive Health, Evidence-Based Care Research Center, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction: Assisted reproductive technique is one of the methods to help the infertile couples. Need to the participation of a third person in the process of infertility treatment by surrogacy will have various human rights, legal, religious and ethical aspects. This review article was performed with aim to evaluate the studies about the human rights, legal, ethical, and religious aspects of surrogacy in Iran with an emphasis on counseling issues.
Methods: This study reviews the findings of published papers regarding different aspects of surrogacy in Iran between 2006 and 2016 in Persian databases of SID and Iran Medex and Medline, and English databases of Pub Med, CINAHL, Google Scholar.  Data were collected using the key words of " surrogacy ", "surrogate mother", " Third party reproduction ", "infertility", "law ","religion " and, " ethics" alone or in combination of these words. Among 706 articles, 42 articles eligible for the study were selected. 
Results: In Iranian law, various aspects of surrogacy is not clear. Surrogacy is not accepted by the majority Sunni scholars and there is disagreement between Shia scholars. Due to legal issues such as inheritance and possible ethical dimensions including the risk for surrogate mother increase the need for continuous and comprehensive counseling.
Conclusion: Collecting comprehensive and accessible counseling guideline is essential to answer the medical, legal and religious questions of candidate couples before choosing this treatment method.

Keywords

References

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The Iranian Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Infertility
Volume 19, Issue 40
March 2017
Pages 33-44

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