The psychologist and delayed reproduction: Reflections on cryopreservation and optimal gamete quality

Abstract

Delaying reproduction and cryopreserving oocytes and sperm is a tendency on the rise. Although “social freezing” (not for medical reasons) of gametes is legitimate, its ethical and social aspects are being debated. Assisted reproduction and cryopreservation, in combination with gestational surrogacy, are nearing ectogenesis. Psychological and moral questions coming up before, during and after this process implicate the clinical psychologist who must keep up with what cryotechniques are, or will be, capable of. We discuss the responsibilities of delayed parenting towards the child-to-be, not only the not-yet-born but also the not-yet-conceived. These rapid developments in reproduction are producing medical, social and legal indications of a formal separation between procreation and sexual activity , a differentiation which will specify responsibilities in the first whilst respecting personal choice in the second. The individual reasons for and psychological consequences of delayed reproduction are of social interest.