Artificial Insemination—The Social Implications

WHEN a Departmental Committee of the Home Office was appointed to consider the problem of A.I.D., the subject was discussed on television, radio and in the press, and engendered a good deal of emotion both for and against?though often without much knowledge of the facts. Six years after that Committee published its findings, the situation may be reviewed in a more detached manner. I write as one who has had the responsibility , from time to time during the past 18 years, of administering artificial insemination by donor, as part of the treatment of infertility. It may surprise many to know that the initiative in requesting A.I.D. often comes from the husband, who feels that he has deprived his wife of the most important experience of her life, and is most anxious to remedy this.