I think that everything you just said is quite correct. It depends on the people concerned, whether it be the two partners in the couple, the clinicians, or yet again on the spirit of the times. The scientific possibilities have changed, and permission is no longer granted for the research. We're talking about stem cells and we want to say yes to the research. It can work both ways. All we know—and this is very well documented—is that over time, people change their minds as to what the definition of an embryo is. At the outset, perhaps it was considered as tissue, perhaps later on, it is perceived as an unborn child, in a frozen state, which could be the brother or little sister of the child that is already born. Perhaps there are other factors that are taken into account, but what we know very well is that people change their minds, and the problem is that when you get the first consent, when the period of treatment is just beginning, it is highly unlikely that the couple can be told what the goal of the research will be.
One of the comments I make in my brief is that it is not enough to talk about research in general, because the participant may want to help advance research on infertility, and will agree that their embryos be used for such research or even for stem cells. But if told that the objective is to do research on abortion, participants may very well decide that they do not want their embryos to serve for that type of research. Therefore, very often, it is the objective of the research that will determine whether the person will support the project or not. If we look at the current guidelines on research involving humans, not only embryos, it states very clearly that the person must understand the goal of the research before granting his or her consent.
In this context, participants cannot give their consent unless they agree with the project, accept the goals of the project ,and donate their embryos. That is why I am emphasizing the fact that when the first consent is given, where research is concerned, the information available is insufficient. Whereas in the other cases, if the intention is to donate the embryos to another couple, the person understands what that means, she understands the objective. Things are different where research is concerned. That must be specified, in my opinion.