ABSTRACT
This leads us to the place of rights, which remains controversial in an ethical debate. In
most cases when we say that someone has a right to do something, we imply that it would be wrong to interfere with his doing it, or at least that some special grounds are needed to justify any interference52,65,66. Rights can also be described as claim rights (positive rights) or liberty rights (negative rights). The HR Act, Article 12, incorporates the right to form a family, thereby acknowledging the unacceptability of obstructing someone in the exercise of that right, rather than demanding positive action. A young cancer patient can decide not to do anything in terms of cryopreserving his sperm before cytotoxic treatment and this wish has to be respected. In fact the position has not changed here, since under the HFE Act it would be illegal to take a sample from a patient or donor without fully informed consent or under pressure. A case when a woman has her oocytes frozen and then wishes to exercise her rights to use the cryopreserved oocyte has to be seen as an instance of a positive right.
