The Swiss government said Thursday it aimed to overhaul its law on medically-assisted reproduction to legalize egg donations and give broader access to sperm donations.
Currently, egg donations are not allowed and only married couples can access sperm donations.
The Swiss parliament has long said it wants to change that and has asked the government to come up with a proposal to provide broader access.
A government statement said it had “decided to completely revise the law on medically assisted reproduction in order to adapt it to the current context” and had asked the interior ministry to draft a proposed law by the end of next year.
The government said it wants to legalise egg donations in cases where a woman in a couple is infertile, as a parallel to the already legal use of sperm donations in cases of male sterility.
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Bern said its priority was “the protection of donors and the welfare of the child”, stressing that “this protection cannot be guaranteed if parents resort to egg donation abroad”.
The government also said it wanted to expand access to both egg and sperm donation to unmarried couples.
After Switzerland legalized same-sex marriage in 2022, married lesbian couples also had access to sperm donations.
However, the government said both married and unmarried couples should have access to sperm and egg donation. “The current restriction to married couples is outdated and no longer corresponds to social reality,” it wrote in a press release.
The draft revision of the law on medically assisted reproduction is also expected to incorporate other changes, including a relaxation of the maximum number of embryos that can be developed per treatment cycle in the case of in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
The draft is due to be put out for consultation by the end of 2026.
