Psychological Aspects of Human

Abstract

WithinITHIN a short time after the solution to the problem of practical artificial insemination of mammals and its application to humans, there arose comment and concern which seemed out of proportion to the importance or incidence of the procedure. This response has continued unabated to the present, with the controversy extending among physicians, lawyers, theologians, and the laity. Because artificial insemination with its research and therapeutic implications has stimulated such an intense emotional response, which seems to transcend national boundaries and cultures, and which has not appreciably changed in almost 200 years, the possibility of an underlying, unconscious motive or theme seemed likely. Artificial human insemination (AI) is an attempt to fertilize a woman by means other than sexual intercourse. Semen is deposited in the vagina, near the cervix (sometimes in the uterus, although this method is not used now), with the aid of instruments, to cause a pregnancy. Semen may be obtained from the husband and its use in this way is called homologous artificial insemination (AIH), most commonly tried in conditions of hypospadias, dysparunia, impotence, etc. Or semen may be obtained from a third party, or donor, and its use in this way is called heterologous artificial insemination (AID), often tried in cases of male sterility (azoospermia, dead or malformed sperm, nonpatent vas, etc), to prevent heredi¬ tary disease transmission, or for eugenic rea¬ sons. Because male sterility is the most common reason to consider the use of artificial insemina¬ tion, AID is the procedure employed and most reacted against, the principal concerns being the use of a third party (who is usually unknown except to the physician), and the legal status of a child conceived from AID. It seemed possible that this concern for the status of an AID child, and the meaning of semen from an un¬ known source went beyond medical, legal, and religious considerations, and that there might be a more common or even universal uncon¬ scious wish which excited the concern, as a reaction against and protection from that wish. The following is an attempt to investigate this hypothesis.