L’inseminazione artificiale a Bari tra il 1936 e il 1986: cenni della storia del Centro per lo Studio e la Terapia della Sterilità

Abstract

The history of the artificial insemination in Apulia is linked to the clinical and experimental as well as to the social and political importance of the Centro per lo Studio e la Terapia della Sterilita set up in 1936 at the Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University of Bari and directed by professor Giovanni Traina Rao, a qualified university lecturer working here since 1936. Although the method of the artificial insemination is not very widespread and despite the relevant methodological and application-related difficulties as well as the numerous religious, ethical and legal obstacles, it is important that, over these years, the few positive results obtained by the clinical practice were made known by the Apulian doctor himself. Such ethical and legal obstacles, mainly connected to the use of the heterologous insemination, led the doctor to pay particular attention to the legal consequences that could arise from the spread of an unregulated practice and, starting from the 1960s, to carry on his research activity in the Hospital of S. Maria. This was the time when his prolific collaboration started with his son Vincenzo. The hospital of S. Maria soon became an excellent point of reference in the Apulian medical context: cutting-edge techniques were developed here mainly aimed at improving the so-called heterologous insemination.