Attitudes of German infertile couples towards preimplantation genetic diagnosis for different uses: a comparison to international studies

Abstract

Background: In Germany, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is currently not legal, but there is still a controversial debate about legalization. Studies about the attitudes of infertile couples towards PGD are rare.

Methods: A survey was conducted with 265 German infertile couples about knowledge, attitudes and prospective use of PGD. The influence of independent variables associated with approval of PGD is analysed by binary logistic regression.

Results: Sixty percent of respondents have heard about PGD. Eighty-seven percent support a general legalization of PGD in Germany for severe, early-onset genetic diseases. Seventy-four percent consider PGD morally acceptable. Sixty percent supported legalizing PGD for HLA-matching. But only a minority approved PGD to test for non-health-related traits. Respondents with a higher education level were the least supportive to all uses of PGD.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that German infertile couples are as liberal towards PGD for health-related uses as in other western countries. They would legalize and use PGD to raise the rates to get pregnant and to avoid severe diseases of the offspring. Taking the opinions of German infertile couples into consideration could help redefine and reframe the public debate towards legalization of PGD and the moral status of the embryo in Germany.