To fulfil a deeply held desire for children despite infertility, women and couples are increasingly placing their hopes on the achievements of reproductive medicine. In 2024 alone, the German IVF Register reported around 131,800 treatment cycles. In some cases, egg donation might be helpful, yet it is currently not permitted in Germany. This is stipulated by the Embryo Protection Act, which came into force in 1991. “Its legal regulations of this act have not been adapted to the numerous new insights gained by research,” explains Leopoldina Member Professor Dr Claudia Wiesemann.
The medical ethicist and historian Wiesemann played a key role in the 2019 statement “Reproductive medicine in Germany – towards an updated legal framework”. In it, the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Union of the German Academies of Sciences called for a “new and comprehensive regulation of the requirements, processes and consequences of reproductive medicine” (1, p. 3). One of the academies’ recommendations was clear: “Egg donation, which has been prohibited in Germany up to now, should be permitted.” (1, p. 9).
Recently, German Federal Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU, the Christian Democratic Union) initiated a political effort to partially legalise egg donation, aiming to allow couples access to egg donation treatments within Germany while creating a clearly regulated framework with ethical boundaries. To this end, Warken intends to engage in cross-departmental discussions with her counterparts in the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, as well as with coalition parliamentary groups. At its core, the proposal seeks to permit a woman to donate her eggs, which remain “unused” after fertility treatment, to a third party. In this context, Claudia Wiesemann notes: “Germany and Luxembourg are the only European Union countries in which egg donation is still prohibited.”
Back in 2019, the academies’ joint statement noted that the existing legislation no longer aligns with the current state of science or societal realities. In particular, it is concerning that the Embryo Protection Act itself creates problems, for instance by restricting modern reproductive medical procedures, potentially increasing health risks for both the mother and child. Moreover, it is no longer convincing that egg donation is prohibited in Germany under the Act, while sperm donation is permitted. This unequal treatment was originally justified on the grounds of protecting the child’s welfare and avoiding a “split motherhood,” explains Wiesemann. These arguments, she adds, are no longer persuasive in light of recent research.
