Opinion on artificial insemination and surrogate motherhood, 1988.

In 1988, the Minister of Justice of the Netherlands issued an opinion on artificial insemination and surrogate motherhood. The opinion does the following, among other things: 1) rejects the requirement that only licensed health care institutions be allowed to perform the gynecological aspects of in vitro fertilization and insemination and the requirement that final responsibility for in vitro fertilization be on the physician, as opposed to responsibility for only the medical aspects of the treatment; 2) labels surrogate motherhood as an undesirable phenomenon and rejects regulation of it; 3) states that a criminal prohibition will be issued on the professional or commercial brokerage of surrogate motherhood; and 4) advises that a physician should refrain from performing in vitro fertilization if intended for surrogate motherhood purposes.