The HFEA gets into gear on surrogacy

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) voted on 20 March 2013 to update the guidance it gives to UK fertility clinics on surrogacy. It is a welcome decision that will mean better support for the growing numbers of families created through surrogacy in the UK.... [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]

Turkish donor womb recipient becomes pregnant

One of the first women to receive a womb transplant is pregnant, the treating hospital has disclosed. A spokesperson said that early test results were 'consistent' with signs of pregnancy.... [Read More]

TV Review: The Only Way is Essex

The Only Way is Essex, commonly known as TOWIE, has moved on from vajazzling (don't ask), love triangles, and weight loss to surrogacy. For those hoping that this subject is treated with respect and sensitivity, you'll be sorely disappointed.... [Read More]

US surrogacy dispute: surrogate refuses to abort at genetic parents' request

A surrogate mother in the United States, who refused an abortion at the intended parents' request after a scan revealed abnormalities, has told CNN news that she was offered money to terminate the fetus and was threatened with legal action.... [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]

Ireland: Genetic mother wins surrogacy case

The Irish High Court has ruled in a landmark case that a woman who is the genetic mother of twins born through a surrogate can be recognised as the legal mother of the children.... [Read More]

TV Review: The New Normal

The New Normal is the latest American sitcom to come speeding across the Atlantic. Before you run for cover saying 'no more' and grasp tightly to your worn out box set of Friends, the New Normal (we are told) is different, fresh and let's be honest very camp... [Read More]

Canadian company charged with illegal trade in surrogacy services, sperm and eggs

A Canadian fertility consultancy firm and its owner have been charged with allegedly buying or offering to buy sperm or eggs and surrogacy services.... [Read More]

Book Review: Families - Beyond the Nuclear Ideal

'Families: Beyond the nuclear ideal' discusses various 'alternative' family forms in Western societies, examining the arguments behind the celebration and criticism of specific types of family that depart from the norm... [Read More]

France: Children born via surrogates overseas to be granted citizenship

The French Justice Minister's instruction to courts to accept citizenship applications for children born via surrogates in other countries has unleashed a political and popular furore... [Read More]

Canada: Fertility doctor suspended after sperm mix ups

Ottawa fertility doctor Norman Barwin has been suspended from practising medicine for two months after artificially inseminating women with the wrong sperm. Five women were involved in four incidents of receiving the wrong sperm between 1986 and 2007.... [Read More]

Ireland: Can surrogate mother be removed from birth certificate?

An Irish couple has brought a legal challenge against the State for refusing to remove the surrogate mother from their children's birth certificates and to register the genetic mother as a legal parent... [Read More]

Maternity rights and surrogacy from an intended mother's perspective

'…and naturally you realise you will not be entitled to Maternity leave….'... [Read More]

Teenager's death ends parents' bid for his sperm

A recent battle by the parents of a teenager who was critically injured in a car accident to obtain and store his sperm for future use has ended following his death last week... [Read More]

Show and tell: London's annual fertility event

The annual show, now in its fourth year, is a unique event, where complementary therapists and crystal healers can be found rubbing shoulders with some of the country's leading fertility specialists... [Read More]

Book Review: Like a Virgin

Reading the back cover blurb, I was looking forward to an eye-opening adventure, discovering the ways in which societies have long been fascinated with creating a child by unconventional means. The book also promised to show how this might be possible in the future and I wasn’t disappointed... [Read More]

Not in front of the children!

The recent case in which a woman called for legal changes to prevent men from donating sperm without their wife's consent has already drawn interesting responses. However, debates about whether gametes may be regarded as 'marital assets' fail to capture the essence of the woman's sense of injustice. The whole point is 'What do we tell the children?'... [Read More]

New Jersey Supreme Court deadlocked over maternal status in surrogacy

The New Jersey Supreme Court has failed to reach a majority verdict on whether a law that requires women to adopt a child born through surrogacy arrangements using donated eggs, to be considered the child's legal mother, discriminates against women affected by infertility.... [Read More]

Book Review: Reproductive Donation - Practice, Policy and Bioethics

Assisted conception gives rise to some truly fascinating questions about human reproduction. Conception enabled through donated sperm, eggs, embryos and surrogacy, in particular, open up a vast number of new possibilities... [Read More]