Institutionalization of assisted human reproduction in Russian legislation: from problems to opportunities

The article examines the fundamental categories of the sphere of assisted human reproduction for the purposes of its institutionalization in Russian legislation. The law does not have adequate tools and does not have conceptual theoretical developments that meet the needs of regulating relations that develop under the influence of the dynamics of reproductive technologies. There have been no attempts in jurisprudence to systematize the existing factual phenomena belonging to the field of assisted reproduction. Existing scientific research is based on the search for foreign legal models in order to adapt them. The author has attempted a structural and systematic approach to the legal understanding of the actual relationship. The fundamental categories in the science of human reproduction are analyzed. The correlations of system-forming concepts in the context of their possible legislative consolidation are revealed. The legally significant properties and characteristics of biomedical concepts are determined. The provisions on the fundamental difference of identical terms in the contextual format «method», «technology» or «program» are formulated. A proposal has been made to reset the established social perception of artificial human reproduction. It is proposed to adopt the basic concept of assisted human reproduction in the meaning of any medical care to overcome infertility as the basis for subsequent legal transformations. The criteria for distinguishing manipulations and actions related to assisted reproductive technologies from other types of medical care to overcome infertility are fixed. Methodological conclusions are formulated about the importance of the moment of the emergence and termination of legal relations in the course of ongoing medical programs, including in vitro fertilization programs. The possible components of the surrogacy program are investigated, strategic directions of legal regulation are determined. The features of the gamete donation program are considered. It is concluded that gamete donation has an absolute specificity due to the biological characteristics of the donor material and the procedure for obtaining it, which requires additional research. It is argued that gamete donation should not be artificially separated from the donation institute, which is historically earlier and has independent tasks and principles. The conceptual characteristics of the cryopreservation program and the directions of further research in this area are outlined. It is proposed to consolidate the norms on medical care in the field of assisted reproduction in the Federal Law «On Assisted Human Reproduction». Contradictions on the issue of synchronizing regulatory regulation with family legislation have been resolved. A general conclusion is drawn about the need to create new legal structures for the integration of technological development phenomena into the legal system.