Embryo donation among Latin-Americans who have attended assisted reproduction techniques: a first empirical approach

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether Latin Americans who have undergone assisted reproduction techniques would donate embryos. METHODS: This is a multinational cross-sectional study, involving 602 patients. We invited the Latin American Network of Assisted Reproduction centers. Those who accepted received the instrument distributed among the patients who agreed by signing the informed consent form. In total, 261 men and 341 women participated from seven countries. RESULTS: Patients would donate their embryos as follows: treatment with embryonic stem cells (73.6%), heterosexual couples (63.8%), Assisted Reproduction Techniques (ART) research (57%), scientific or basic research (55.3%), research with embryonic stem cells (55.2%), premenopausal women (53.8%), single women (45.1%), people with disabilities (25.4%), lesbians (25.3%), menopausal women (25.2%), lesbian couples (24.6%), gay couples (19.6%), senile women (15.1%). CONCLUSIONS: The results favor embryos donation for research purposes, and a little less for clinical purposes, contrary to what was thought in qualitative studies conducted among Latin American populations.