THE FREEZING AND PRESERVING OF GAMETES DUE TO SOCIAL REASONS (SOCIAL INDICATION) FROM THE CIVIL LAW PERSPECTIVE

Every person has a right to decide on whether or not to have a child, how many children to have and the timing of it, which are reproductive rights. In this regard, reproductive rights are personal values that are part of personal rights and are protected in international law and by national legal systems. The freezing and preserving of gametes is one of the possibilities made available by modern reproductive medicine. Through such methods, a person’s gametes, as a precautionary measure, are obtained, frozen and preserved in order to be used so that such person’s wish to have child can be fulfilled at a later suitable stage when needed. The freezing and preserving of gametes can be made due to medical or social reasons such as education, career or prioritizing other plans in life. Under the legal regime in Turkey, the freezing and preserving of gametes is only possible when there is a medical obligation. On the other hand, access to medical reproductive methods is regulated in a restrictive manner. It is clear that the legislator has the discretion in determining the conditions for benefiting from reproductive medical methods. A regulation that affects a fundamental right such as the reproductive rights, however, should enable a framework within which persons can realize its decisions regarding reproduction. Therefore, taking the societal developments and demands into consideration, it would be apt to come up with a new regulation or at the very least revisit the present one