In its submission to the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction, the Adelaide Hospital Society has called for regulated research on human embryos up to 14 days old and the screening of embryos for genetic conditions.
In a document that challenges the teaching of the Catholic Church on many aspects of reproductive medicine, the society, which represents the Protestant medical ethos on the issue, calls for the establishment of a Permanent Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction.
Such a commission, it suggests, would regulate all aspects of this area, rather than attempting to do so in legislation, and would have an overall regulatory function of a permanent, ongoing kind.
The society stresses the importance of the assisted human reproduction programme, involving in-vitro fertilisation, already available in the Rotunda Hospital, and the need to ensure this is available without financial barriers as part of mainstream medicine.
"Having children is so fundamental a need for human beings that such a service may indeed be described as contributing to the development of a contented society," it says.
It endorses the freezing of embryos, which is already part of this service, and adds: "The further issues which arise from the availability of freezing, including research, are matters for detailed and ongoing regulation by the Permanent Commission rather than by legislation. It is unlikely that such detailed issues can be satisfactorily supervised by legislation."
The Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction was set up by the Government in March 2000, under the chairmanship of Prof Dervilla Donnelly, to consider all issues relating to assisted human reproduction, which is not regulated at present.
It has been asked to prepare a report on possible approaches to regulation, and on the social, ethical and legal factors to be taken into account.
The Adelaide Hospital Society rejects the use of the word "unborn" in the Constitution as "most unsatisfactory". "We are not aware that it has any scientific meaning. It is imperative that the commission envisages the development of a human person as a process and that the legal and moral implications must evolve and increase as that development occurs," it says.
Dealing with the status of the person, it states: "The respect due to human embryos is clear, but is different in character from that due to the foetus and . . . due to the human person who is alive after birth."
The society says that the freezing of sperm and ova should be permitted under regulation, and that assisted human reproduction should include strictly controlled donor programmes.
The society does not rule out the use of assisted human reproduction services by unmarried couples, but says it should be regulated in the interests of children who may be born as a result.
Referring to embryo screening for genetic conditions, the society states: "Parents are entitled to the fullest possible information in respect to genetic conditions affecting their children, and screening, under regulated conditions, is necessary to obtain such information.
On research on embryos, the society's submission says: "It is now widely accepted internationally that research on very early human embryos (up to 14 days) may be of considerable medical value as, for example, in relevant stem cell research."
The submission calls for a prohibition on human cloning.
The Adelaide Hospital Society was formed in 1839. Its current president is Prof Ian Graham, and its director is Dr Fergus O'Farrell. A former chairman is Professor David McConnell, now chairman of the Irish Times Trust.
Since the amalgamation of the Adelaide with the Meath and the National Children's Hospital into Tallaght Hospital, the society's support is directed to the new entity, promoting in particular "the highest quality healthcare, especially for the poor of every denomination."