[Assisted reproductive technologies for serodiscordant couples: desire for child and pregnancy versus the fact of illness].

Abstract

Assisted Reproductive Technologies for serodiscordant couples with HIV-infected male partner has been possible since 2000 in French centres such as the CECOS in Toulouse. From the outset, couples in the program meet psychologists or psychiatrists. In the first instance, the results from 40 psychologist led interviews with serodiscordant couples held at the CECOS in Toulouse, identified several challenging ideas. Couples who plan to have children were in a stable long-term relationship and both were involved in managing the illness. Medically assisted procreation awakens in the women a strong desire for children and enables the couples to make plans for the future. But it also reminds the men of their reliance on medical assistance because of the demands made by the medical program, and in case of failure it can destabilise the couples' way of coping with HIV. Subsequently, interviews with 12 couples during pregnancy revealed the overbearing presence of the illness, despite the imminent birth of the desired child. In their responses, women express their anxiety concerning the risk of contamination, and the defences that the men had built up to cope with HIV appeared destabilised, now that the idea of their death is rekindled.