Federal Council Unmarried people should also receive sperm and egg donations

SDA

30.1.2025 - 09:04

Egg and sperm cells for everyone: fertilized eggs in a laboratory in Zurich (archive photo).
Egg and sperm cells for everyone: fertilized eggs in a laboratory in Zurich (archive photo).
KEYSTONE

In future, all couples in Switzerland should be able to access egg and sperm donations if they wish to have children. The Reproductive Medicine Act is to be amended accordingly.

Keystone-SDA

No time? blue News summarizes for you

  • The Federal Council wants to legalize egg donation and also give unmarried couples access to sperm and egg donation.
  • A bill for a comprehensive revision of the Reproductive Medicine Act is to be drafted by the end of 2026, which will examine, among other things, longer storage periods for germ cells and embryos.
  • The aim of the reform is to ensure the protection of egg donors and the welfare of the child, which cannot be guaranteed in the case of treatment abroad.

The Federal Council received the mandate to legalize egg donation from Parliament. A corresponding motion was referred to the federal government in September 2022. The majority in the Council of States was narrow.

According to Parliament, the aim of allowing egg donation is to prevent married couples from traveling abroad to fulfill their desire to have children. The Federal Council supports this goal, but wants to go further than the National Council and Council of States, as it decided in principle on Wednesday.

It proposes that unmarried couples who have an unfulfilled desire to have children should also be able to donate eggs and sperm. "The Federal Council is of the opinion that the restriction to married couples is no longer in keeping with the times and does not correspond to social reality," it wrote.

Further changes under review

The Federal Council instructed the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) to prepare a consultation draft for a comprehensive revision of the Reproductive Medicine Act by the end of 2026 "in order to adapt it to today's realities". The current law was last revised in 2017 with the approval of preimplantation genetic diagnosis. At that time, in vitro genetic testing of embryos was approved.

In addition to the approval of egg donation and the extension of sperm donation to unmarried couples, the planned legislative reform is intended to implement further changes, as the Federal Council wrote. Among other things, it is to be examined whether frozen sperm cells, eggs and embryos may be preserved for longer than before - namely ten years.

The abolition or relaxation of the "rule of twelve" for in vitro fertilization is also under discussion. This states that a maximum of twelve embryos may be developed within one treatment cycle.

Child welfare not guaranteed abroad

In Switzerland, the Reproductive Medicine Act has stipulated since 2001 the conditions under which couples may make use of reproductive medical procedures. Today, these procedures include insemination, in which sperm is transferred into the uterus, and in vitro fertilization, in which egg cells are fertilized outside the woman's body and the embryo is then transferred into the uterus.

For both procedures, sperm donation is currently only permitted for married couples, while egg donation is completely prohibited. In future, all couples - regardless of their marital status - who are unable to have a child due to the woman's infertility should be able to resort to donation - in the same way as sperm donation for male infertility.

"The protection of egg donors and the best interests of the child are paramount," as the Federal Council wrote. This protection cannot be guaranteed if couples make use of egg donation abroad.