Seppe Segers: Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Bioethics Institute Ghent, Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium. Seppe.Segers@UGent.be.
Heidi Mertes: Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Bioethics Institute Ghent, Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
Guido de Wert: Department of Health, Ethics and Society, Research Schools CAPHRI and GROW, Maastricht University, Peter Debyeplein 1, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Wybo Dondorp: Department of Health, Ethics and Society, Research Schools CAPHRI and GROW, Maastricht University, Peter Debyeplein 1, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Guido Pennings: Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Bioethics Institute Ghent, Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
In this review we aim to provide an overview of the most important ethical pros and cons of stem cell derived gametes (SCD-gametes), as a contribution to the debate about reproductive tissue engineering. Derivation of gametes from stem cells holds promising applications both for research and for clinical use in assisted reproduction. We explore the ethical issues connected to gametes derived from embryonic stem cells (both patient specific and non-patient specific) as well as those related to gametes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. The technology of SCD-gametes raises moral concerns of how reproductive autonomy relates to issues of embryo destruction, safety, access, and applications beyond clinical infertility.
