Family Law & Fertility Law Blog | Louisa Ghevaert Associates

IVF rights in France to be extended to single women and lesbian couples

This week (29 June 2021), the French parliament passed a bill which will give single women and lesbian couples the right to access fertility treatment in France. Up until now, restrictive laws have meant that only heterosexual couples have been eligible to undergo fertility treatment, such as IVF, in France. This left single women and lesbian couples having to travel abroad for fertility treatment. As such, this new legislation means that for the first time in France all women under 43 will be able to access fertility treatment regardless of sexual orientation or relationship status.

UK fertility treatment trends over the last 30 years

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (‘HFEA’) published its latest statistics and analysis of fertility treatment trends in the UK las month (May 2021). This coincided with the HFEA’s 30th anniversary following its introduction in 1991. It paints a largely positive picture prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, showing marked increases in fertility treatment success rates over the last 30 years. Overall, since 1991 approximately 1.3 million IVF cycles and more than 260,000 DI cycles have been undertaken in the UK, resulting in the birth of 390,000 babies. This represents a significant achievement.

Keep Up to Date with Fertility & Family Law at Louisa Ghevaert Associates

The News Section of the Louisa Ghevaert Associates' website has had an inspiring refresh. With articles, excerpts and podcasts as featured in The Times, The Independent, The Guardian and BBC Radio you can learn more about the intricacies of fertility and family law and many topical issues that feature in the media. Understand how COVID-19 has impacted surrogacy, delve deeper into the need for fertility law reform in the UK and increase your awareness of the rapidly evolving genomic landscape and what this means for the fertility and healthcare sectors.

Surrogacy in the UK and internationally during the Covid-19 pandemic

Ministry of Justice figures for the whole of 2020 now record that there were 421 parental orders granted in England and Wales during 2020. This represents a five percent decrease on 2019 figures and the first visible decline in surrogacy (encompassing both UK and international surrogacy arrangements) over the last decade. The fact that there was only a ten percent decrease in parental orders granted in England and Wales during 2020 is testament to just how much determination and resilience was shown by intended parents, surrogates and fertility clinics.

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