Ethical principles and the HFEA's donation review

At a public meeting on 19 October, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) decided to move to a 'flat rate' system of monetary compensation for egg donors. The HFEA also decided to leave the regulations governing egg sharing substantially unchanged. Critics have already raised concerns about the quality of the discussion at the meeting, I want to look at a quite different issue: the use made by the HFEA of the idea of 'ethical principles'... [Read More]

Your thoughts about donor conception, conditionality and adoption

Should gamete donors be allowed to place conditions on who receives their donation? And should those considering having children via donor conception be encouraged to adopt instead?... [Read More]

Response to Ben Saer

In addressing egg-donation dad-to-be Ben Saer's points in his BioNews article, it is hard to know where to start. Good parenting is of course supportive and protective, but it does not resolve the desire of some people to know more about who helped create them... [Read More]

Australian IVF doctor not liable for failing to warn about the risk of a hereditary condition

The parents of a child born with a rare blood clotting disorder have lost their legal battle against an IVF doctor for wrongful birth after he failed to warn them of the risks of passing on the hereditary condition... [Read More]

Mother forces 14-year old to become pregnant with donor sperm

A woman has been sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of forcing her adopted teenage daughter to artificially inseminate herself.... [Read More]

Book Review: Reproductive Technologies as Global Form - Ethnographies of Knowledge, Practices and Transnational Encounters

Reading 'Reproductive technologies as global form' provides insights into what ethnographers find out about 'national IVF-cultures' during their fieldwork, but it also invites us to engage with theoretical considerations of an academic discipline... [Read More]

Why we should welcome the conclusions of the Nuffield report on donor conception

From my point of view as a sociologist carrying out research in this field, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics report on donor conception is to be welcomed as a scholarly and balanced contribution to current debates... [Read More]

Podcast: Being - The Donor-Conceived Perspective

A podcast produced as part of the When It Takes More Than Two project organised by the Progress Educational Trust... [Read More]

Nuffield report: Parents should decide whether or not to 'tell'

The Nuffield Council report rightly rejects the call to pressurising parents into compliance, as this abstract ideal of openness disallows them to make their own moral judgements about what is best in their situation and for their family... [Read More]

The mother isn't always certain: Irish surrogacy case leads the way

Once upon a time, motherhood was certain. It was proved by giving birth. The Latin maxim 'mater semper certa est' that told us so was irrefutable. Whether or not that was ever actually true, it has for a long while been biologically, as well as socially, questionable.... [Read More]

US sperm donor sues clinic for using his sperm to impregnate ex-girlfriend

A man from Louisiana is attempting to sue a fertility clinic after accusing his ex-girlfriend of stealing his stored gametes. Layne Hardin has alleged that former partner Tobie Devall 'bluffed' her way into obtaining two vials of his sperm, which she was inseminated with.... [Read More]

Do you know your sister?

Once again, the voices of people and families conceived as a result of gamete donation in Israel are going unheeded... [Read More]

Being: The Donor-Conceived Perspective

Another full house for the final event of Progress Educational Trust's 'When it Takes More Than Two' series. This time attendees were invited to consider gamete donation from the perspective of the donor conceived... [Read More]

US sperm and egg donors may be unconsenting contributors to stem cell science

Human embryonic stem cell lines approved for federal funding in the USA, may have been derived from sperm or eggs of unconsenting donors... [Read More]

The role of counsellors in infertility clinics

Counselling has become an increasingly central – and sometimes mandatory – part of the provision of infertility treatment services in the UK, although its role is not always clearly defined. In a recent research project, we interviewed sixty-six staff, with different roles at twenty clinics that provide infertility treatment services (around one quarter of the total). Our research offered some interesting insights into the role of counsellors in this process.... [Read More]

Receiving: The Recipient Parent Perspective

The second debate in the Progress Educational Trust's project 'When It Takes More Than Two' took place at University College London last week. The debate, 'Receiving: The Recipient Parent Perspective', focused on the views of those who have received donor gametes to begin their families.... [Read More]

Donor conception in the UK: the seldom-heard voices of minority ethnic communities

When we set out over ten years ago to carry out research about infertility within British South Asian communities, little was known about how involuntary childlessness and its possible resolution with assisted conception was experienced by members of minority ethnic communities in the UK... [Read More]

'Just' giving: PET's evening debate on gamete donation from the donor perspective

The image of the sperm donor nipping off between lectures to casually donate for a few quid of beer money was neatly set aside by this thought-provoking debate. In his place, in strode the complex male – knowledgeable, thoughtful, sensitive… and probably over 25... [Read More]

An unfortunate step backward for donor conception in Canada

People conceived by donor gametes in Canada do not have a right to access their progenitors' medical records or identities. To change this reality, Olivia Pratten brought litigation in October 2008 against the government of British Columbia, where she was donor-conceived about 30 years ago... [Read More]

The mince pie problem

Someone who came to our event this week 'Giving: The Gamete Donor Perspective' very kindly brought some mince pies for us. She brought 30 mince pies. I gave two boxes away to stalwart volunteers. But this generous gift posed a problem... [Read More]