Regulating assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in Nigeria: lessons from Australia and the United Kingdom

Chinelo A Ekechi-Agwu, Anthony O Nwafor

Abstract

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART), are innovative, non-coital medical procreative procedures, that have brought respite to a number of childless persons and couples, just as it also raises a number of ethical and medico-legal issues. A number of countries including Nigeria, are still struggling to find the appropriate legal framework to provide guidelines for this reproductive process to curtail inherent unethical practices associated with that development. The paper explores the available regulatory instruments in Nigeria and in cognate jurisdictions such as Australia and the United Kingdom, through a comparative study to ascertain the efficacy of the existing instruments in ensuring that unethical practices and abuses associated with ART are eradicated. The findings indicate that the regulatory instrument in Nigeria requires significant improvement in line with the legal frameworks in operation in the cognate jurisdictions to effectively guard against potential unethical practices and abuses associated with the application of ART. (Afr J Reprod Health 2020; 24[4]: 82-93).

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