Female couples (ROPA Method)
Assisted Reproduction:
Description and indications
Couples of women who feel the need to start a family can come to us for answers. To achieve this, they will need to undergo an Assisted Reproduction Technique.
Article 6 of Law 14/2006, of 26 May, on assisted human reproduction techniques states: "Any woman over 18 years of age and with full capacity to act may be a recipient or user of the techniques regulated in this Law, provided that she has given her written consent to their use in a free, conscious and express manner. A woman may be a user or recipient of the techniques regulated in this Law regardless of her marital status or sexual orientation".
The technique to be used will always be the most appropriate for each woman. To do this, a preliminary study must be carried out to help us make a diagnosis.
Los tratamientos de reproducción asistida a los que pueden someterse las parejas de mujeres son:
- Artificial Insemination with Donor Sperm (AID)
- In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) with donor sperm
- Recepción de ovocitos fecundados con semen de donante (Doble donación)
- Recepción de embriones donados por otras parejas
- Método ROPA (Recepción de óvulos de la pareja)
The outcome will depend largely on the woman's age and the existence of additional causes of infertility.
The ROPA method makes it possible for married women to share childbearing. It consists of an IVF treatment shared by both women. One of them will provide the oocytes and the other will be the mother of the embryos resulting from fertilisation with donor sperm, one being the genetic mother and the other the mother who gives birth.
Sperm donors are always anonymous and their selection is the responsibility of the medical team as stated in art. 6.4 of Law 14/2006: "In the application of assisted reproduction techniques, the choice of the sperm donor may only be made by the medical team applying the technique, which must preserve the conditions of anonymity of the donation".
It is important that both parties sign the corresponding informed consent, which will provide them with legal responsibilities for the offspring resulting from the technique. Since 2007, Spanish law has allowed the registration of double motherhood in the Civil Registry as long as the couple is married.
