The "gift" of life. Exploring the moral limits in the production and exchange of gametes for assisted human reproduction

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the practices and discourses that shape the moral economy of the donation of gametes –oocytes and sperm– for biotechnological interventions with reproductive objectives in Uruguay. The proposal is to analyze the values and social relationships involved in economic practices. We analyze two issues that are particularly disputed in the framework of this moral economy: the adequacy or inadequacy of the procedures for accessing oocytes, and the appropriate retribution for the gametes. The donation of games can be considered a type of bioeconomy in which sexually specific goods are generated and put into circulation: a female gamete and a male gamete. The analysis of the moral economy of the donation of gametes seeks to problematize the values attributed to sexed biologies in the context of this bioeconomy, and how these values affect the practices and discourses of donation. I conclude about the moral laxity that seems to encourage the donation economy with oocyte donation, despite the clinic risks involved in the process.