Andy Cohen, the host of “Watch What Happens Live” in the United States, has considered whether his children, born via IVF and surrogacy, could have a child in the future using his remaining frozen embryos.
Andy Cohen, a single father, is raising two children born using different surrogate mothers. He is unsure how many frozen embryos he still has but believes it may be three. Cohen has speculated that should his son or daughter have fertility issues in the future, they could use his own embryos.
It appears that Cohen’s children are biologically related both to each other and to him. Accordingly, his daughter, if she carried her sibling in the future, would also be carrying her father’s genetic child.
This would not be the first time that reproductive technology has been used to have a child with a close relative. While the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority prohibits mixing egg and sperm of close relatives to create a child, this does not cover situations where a woman gives birth to her father’s or brother’s child created with another woman’s egg.
When a Frenchwoman applied to a UK fertility clinic to have her brother’s child this way, the HFEA did not oppose the application.
In countries where donor eggs are expensive, using eggs from a sister, mother or daughter in IVF can be seen as a way to save money and to create a genetic connection with the child.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “IVF is a distortion of natural conception and should not be further distorted by using relatives’ sperm or eggs or wombs in ways that confuse family ties.
“As well as discarding a huge number of embryos and increasingly treating them as a commodity that can be disposed of at will, the process of IVF has led to worryingly blurred lines concerning family bonds. In the case of Andy Cohen, this confusion is especially disturbing and should serve as a wake-up call to society.”
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