Artificial Insemination – depositing a man’s semen in the vagina, cervical canal or uterus, through the

use of instruments to bring about conception unattained or unattainable by sexual intercourse

Methods of Extracting Semen for AI:

1. Masturbation
2. Condomistic intercourse
3. Coitus interruptus
4. Massage of the prostate gland
5. Direct puncture of the epididymis

Types of Artificial Insemination:

1. Homologous Insemination (AIH) – the semen is obtained from the husband

Methods of Administering AIH

a. Homologous Artificial Insemination

 transfer of sperm from the husband into the woman’s vagina
 can be done by the woman with instructions from an AI specialist
 also called “do-it-yourself AI”
b. Homologous In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer
 In vitro fertilization of generative cells
 Transferred into the woman’s uterus for gestation

2. Heterologous Inseminaton (AID) - semen is acquired from a donor other than the husband

Methods of Administering AID

a. Heterologous Artificial Insemination

 Transfer of sperm from a donor other than the husband, into the wife
b. Heterologous Artificial Insemination
 In vitro fertilization of generative cells
 Transferred into the woman’s uterus for gestation
 From donor other than the two spouses in marriage
 If the wife’s oocytes are defective the process is medically known as “ovum donor
treatment”

Justifications of AIH

1. Husband’s Impotence
2. Anatomical defects of husband’s urethra
3. Deficient sperm count (oligospermia)
4. Physical or psychological problems that hinder normal intercourse
5. Husbands who have undergone vasectomy but decided to have a child
 6. Physiological obstructions in the genital apparatus of the wife

Justification of AID

1. Husband is sterile (azoospermia)

2. Husband is a carrier of a hereditary disease
3. Wife’s oocytes are defective
4. Wife’s fallopian tubes are severely damaged

Ethical Arguments:

Roman Catholic position views AI as morally wrong, saying “artificial procreation is an act of production
rather than a communion between two people. It reduces human beings to objects and degrades their
being, value and dignity. Married couples have no right to children, only the right to perform the
procreative act.”

According to Joseph Fletcher, “marriage is not a physical monopoly”. Situational ethics endorses AI as
“our right to overcome childlessness”. Parenthood is not primariy a matter of biology but instead of
broadly human function of commitment to the care and rearing of a child.

Critics of in vitro fertilization say that the act is unnatural and undermines the marriage covenant of
sexual love for procreation. It treats the procreative dimension of sexuality “as a mere biological
function and defines parenthood in terms of nurturing life, not generating life”

Utilitarian advocates point to the happiness achieved by the couple finally able to bear their own child,
others to the benefits to genetics and obstetrics coming from research which will be of benefit to future
generations.

For the moral pragmatist, AI is the most practical, beneficial and useful technique to be undertaken by
spouses who are beset with the problems of impotence, hereditary disorders, defective genes and
anatomical defects.

Kant’s concept of an individual as a rational and autonomous being who has to decide by and for his or
her own welfare seems to be in keeping with the personal decisions of a childless couple who may not
want to have a child through AI. The decision to undergo this procedure must be voluntary and mutual.
Both must preserve their dignity as human beings and not as means to an end.

A related issue raised is that of “granny pregnancies”. Through embryo donation and fertility drugs,
older women have been known to bear children. Advocates proclaim these events as providing older
women with the same rights and liberties as old men to parent children. Critics regard them unfair to
the child who may be orphaned when young, possibly dangerous to the woman’s health and unfair to
society that may ultimately pay for the procedure and care of the child.

Reference:
Brandman, E. (2000) Nursing ethics through the Life Span. (3rd Edition). Connecticut: Appleton-Lange.

Burkhardt M. and Nathaniel A. (2008) Ethics and Issues in Contemporary Nursing (3rd Edition). Canada:
Thomson Delmar Learning.

Timbreza, F. (2004) Bioethics and Moral Decisions (8th Edition). Manila: De La Salle University Press, Inc.