Iranian Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine

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New antiviral remedies have greatly improved the prognosis of patients infected with AIDS, as well as their life expectancy and quality of life, and assisted reproductive techniques have made it possible for many HIV positive patients to have healthy children. Nevertheless, most assisted reproduction centers continue to reject these couples, and this is a factor that contributes to their isolation from the society. The present study was performed through document and library research, and the results were investigated from the viewpoints of the infected couple, their future children, and health care staff. Social and legal issues were evaluated through consultation and collaboration of experts, and related articles, guidelines and accessible material were examined for this purpose. Every individual has the right to reproduction. If it is possible for HIV positive couples to have children with the help of fertility lab techniques, and provided that throughout the process there is no danger of disease transmission to others and particularly the embryo, ART centers should not reject HIV positive couples. Rejection of these couples is against the principles of medical ethics and in violation of the current effective laws of the country. On the other hand, acceptance of patients infected with Hepatitis type C, advanced cancers, mental diseases, and so on is further proof that rejecting HIV positive couples is a form of discrimination and unethical. The word HIV itself is synonymous with the stigma of social deviance, and it seems children of infected parents are not in the ideal position from the public point of view. One step that needs to be taken is for the society to try to remove this stigma and provide support for all chronically ill patients. There is no valid justification for rejecting HIV positive couples in ART centers, and it appears to be unethical and a violation of human rights to deny these couples the right to have healthy children through modern technology.

Keywords: adoption, HIV, medical ethics, in vitro fertilization, gamete donation

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