The emergence and use of expanded carrier screening in gamete donation: a new form of repro-genetic selection

With the continued expansion and commercialisation of fertility treatments, the selection and matching of donors has become more sophisticated and technologised. As part of this landscape, new form of genetic screening: ‘expanded carrier screening’ (ECS) is being offered as a technique to avoid the risk of donors passing on genetic conditions to future offspring. Allowing donors to be tested for hundreds of genetic conditions simultaneously, ECS marks a considerable departure from traditional ‘family history’ models of screening, which rely on individual’s knowledge of family health. There is growing evidence of a drive towards the use of ECS within the fertility sector and a growing number of clinics are offering it for a fee, as part of an egg or sperm donation cycle or as an add-on to IVF treatment. In this paper we use methods of critical reflection to synthesise data from two studies to explore how ECS is being used to avoid genetic risk in IVF treatment using donor gametes. We suggest that ECS is a new form of repro-genetic selection – a selective reproductive technology - with specific and important implications for donors, recipients and clinicians, and with the potential to reconfigure the scope and application of gamete donation. We examine these implications and conclude that the existing policy blind spot relating to this development in fertility treatment practice needs to be urgently addressed.