Reform of UK surrogacy laws: the need for evidence

Surrogacy, whether altruistic or commercial, has become the focus of much public and academic commentary. Given the complexity of surrogacy practice, we have become concerned that many 'reform' arguments are based on alleged matters of fact: a dangerous state of affair

Die »Notwendigkeit eines Vaters für das Kind« und der Zugang lesbischer Frauen zur Reproduktionsmedizin (The child’s need for a father and access to assisted reproductive technologies by lesbians)

This chapter provides an overview of two broad areas relating to lesbians’ use of reproductive services for family building. First, it identifies strategies used in the building of ‘planned’ lesbian families – where a lesbian couple, the genetic mother and the social or ‘co’ mother, plan their family together - and in which children are raised from birth without the presence of a father. Second, it reviews policy and legislation regulating and restricting lesbians’ use of reproductive services in a number of countries both globally and specifically in Europe, before considering in more detail the ‘need for a father’ debate in the United Kingdom that resulted in legislative provisions effective from October 2009, formally ending discrimination against lesbians seeking to access fertility services in the United Kingdo

Five minutes with Mark Blyth: “Turn it into things people can understand, let go of the academese, and people will engage”

Mark Blyth became the accidental star of the political blogosphere last year when he appeared in a video promoting the key message behind his upcoming book ‘Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea’. Here he explains why being unreadable helps economists get their message across, how fan and hate mail have become part of his professional life and how his latest project illustrates that there is a market for academic ideas

To Be or not to Be? A Critical Appraisal of the Welfare of Children Conceived through New Reproductive Technologies

Over three million children are believed to have been born worldwide - and over 200,000 annually - as a result of “new reproductive technologies” (NRTs). This paper provides a critical review of the proposition that children are always best-served by being born. Drawing on the specific examples of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI); multiple births; pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and selecting the characteristics of children, and donor conception it argues that there are defensible welfare arguments for curtailing unrestricted access to NRTs. Increased and wider dialogue is proposed to encourage the implementation of practices and policies that take account of the interests of all those affected by NRTs and which command public support

TV Review: Modern Times - The Vikings are coming

The central characters in Sue Bourne's hour-long documentary 'The Vikings Are Coming' are three single women, Holly (36), Gemma (40), and Amanda (43) and a lesbian couple in their thirties, Kal and Anna. Largely reliant on video footage filmed by the women themselves, viewers are able to witness Holly's, Gemma's, Kal's and Anna's emotional roller coaster as they try to get pregnant using Danish donor sperm (Amanda is already pregnant at the start of the film). By the end of the film, only Gemma remains childless

Baby Gammy: the responsibilities of ART professionals in international surrogacy

The 'Baby Gammy' case has sparked worldwide interest and comment. At the time of writing at least some of the 'facts' of what happened, when, and why remain contested. However, as Sascha Callaghan and Ainsley Newson note in their commentary (see BioNews 766), the case highlights troubling issues that have been exercising the minds of some of us for some time (1-4). Among the key questions that Callaghan and Newson ask are: whether it is 'reasonable [for rich countries] to outsource reproductive requirements to countries where women from deprived backgrounds can obtain a slice of the baby marketplace?' and 'whether selling reproductive services between countries is moral?'; the latter begging the question of whether selling reproductive services anywhere is moral

1988-2008: Twenty years of BICA

The celebration of BICA’s twentieth anniversary in 2008 provides a timely opportunity to chart and review the Association’s achievements since its inception and, with an eye to the future, to identify continuing challenges - including those inherent in provisions in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill that is currently under parliamentary review