Reproductive technology: in Japan, consensus has limits

As part of a Hastings Center Report series of six articles on reproductive technologies around the world, three Japanese scholars report on the situation in their country. At present, artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization are offered to infertile married couples, and research is performed on early embryos up to 14 days after fertilization. Neither surrogate mothers nor donated gametes are used in Japan. Bai, Shirai, and Ishii identify several issues that they believe merit further public debate, among them the legal status of AID children, the experimental nature of in vitro fertilization, genetic manipulation of embryos, and gender selection. They summarize the findings of four opinion surveys that show a lack of consensus among the Japanese on the acceptability of reproductive technologies, which in the words of the authors "create a tension and a link between traditional belief and contemporary practice."