Islam and assisted reproduction in the middle east: Comparing the sunni arab world, shia iran and secular Turkey

Abstract

This chapter examines the practice of assisted reproduction in the Muslim Middle East. Comparing the Sunni Arab World, Shia Iran and secular Turkey, we reveal both regional similarities and differences. We outline the global problem of infertility and the possibilities afforded by assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) to remedy them, before looking specifically at the ways in which Islam has responded to the novel ethical and social dilemmas generated by these technologies. The comparative analysis demonstrates that an expectation of a monolithic ‘Islamic approach’ to ARTs is misguided and over-simplistic: while a fatwa banning all forms of third-party reproductive assistance (i.e. the use of donor sperm, donor eggs, donor embryos, and surrogacy) has been upheld in the Sunni Arab world since 1980, Shia clerics have been more permissive in their rulings, enabling the use of donation in Iranian fertility clinics. In Turkey, although donation is not practiced, the prohibitions are justified with reference to secular and bioethical principles rather than with reference to religion. We argue for a nuanced understanding of how religion requires interpretation in order to respond to contemporary challenges and emphasize the interrelationship between various local and global considerations at the nexus of medicine, commerce, law, and family-making in shaping ART practice.