Offer, consumption and freedom of information in the context of assisted reproduction in the digital age: problematizing contractual guiding principles

Abstract

In this paper we focus on the offer of assisted reproduction (AR) services in Brazil, and in this context we focus on important regulatory instruments that guide contractual relationships in the consumption of medical procedures and rights to information, considering their wide popularization through social media. The methodological discussion seeks to collate legal reflections and sociocultural studies of offers of AR, consumption and access to information on AR. Bio-rights, a recent field of knowledge that embraces life and human reproduction, is a rich source for rising debates on AR that allows us to establish essential connections between fields of knowledge that can improve situations of non-access to information. A renewed reading of contractual relations is sought, as well as a critical outlook on the diffusion of AR technical knowledge. For this, we carefully consider the principles of new contractual theory, constitutional parameters, principalism, and basic consumer rights. This is an incipient regulation where contractual relationships touch complex topics that involve procedural success/failure rates, genetic material exchange and confidentiality. The validity of such principles as an aid to legal interpretations of concrete cases must be reconsidered in a situation characterized by legal precarity and reckless dissemination of information.

Keywords

• assisted reproduction
• contractual principles
• consumption relation