An Appraisal of the Adoption of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in Nigeria: New Challenges to Law and Ethics

This research sets out to explore Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) in Nigeria with the purpose of analysing the new problems it portends to Law and Ethics. The study undertook this investigation by understudying the various ethical and legal frameworks of assisted reproductive technology by reviewing the International Committee for Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technology (ICMART), World Health Organization (WHO), Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Nigerian National Health Act, 2014, and the Nigerian Code of Medical Ethics, 1990. In this exploration, the study found that ART is used by many people who are infertile and have tried other conventional methods, but also by those without fertility problems to minimize genetic risk or reproduce without a partner of the opposite sex. ART has helped many overcome barriers to reproduction but has generated significant ethical, religious, and legal issues. By adopting a doctrinal methodology of legal research, it revealed the numerous gaps in the practice of ART. This inter alia include the fact that Nigeria lacks a specific legal framework for ART practice, and that the practice is not consciously regulated and is prone to abuse, there are also possibilities of birth defects and identity clash of ART children finally, the study proposed beneficial suggestions aimed towards conformance to the numerous local and international treaties on Assisted Reproductive Technology. The study is crucial given the need to underline the quality and amount of progress/ milestone that Nigeria has made in the use of assistive reproductive technologies and the related legal and ethical issues.