Swiss National Council proposes legalisation egg cell donation

A motion about this issue was brought in by the commission for science, education and culture, Idea reports. The commission argued that “the current ban leads to unequal treatment.” At the moment, only sperm donation is allowed for married couples.

Therefore, many infertile couples travel abroad for fertility treatment with egg cells. Apart from Switzerland and Germany, all European countries allow egg cell donation. However, because only sperm donation is allowed in Switzerland, insurance companies do not reimburse egg cell donations abroad.

Only a minority of the commission voted against the motion. EDU National Councilor, Andreas Gafner, said he would like to address the issue in the context of other matters. He stated that he is not fundamentally opposed to the legalisation of egg donation. In 2019, a similar motion was rejected.

Currently, there is also a parliamentary initiative on the waitlist about allowing unmarried couples to use sperm and egg cell donations. The new motion about egg cell donation does not exclude unmarried couples explicitly. However, Swiss legislation only allows married heterosexual couples to use sperm cell donation as well.