20 September 2024
Louisa Ghevaert was delighted to to deliver a surrogacy law update on 17 September 2024 at the British Fertility Society’s Creating Modern Families Day 2024 in London as part of the annual BFS Study Week. This training day was well attended by fertility clinicians, embryologists, nurses and other professionals. It also included a lively legal Question & Answer session, during which Louisa was pleased to answer a range of questions about legal parentage, donor conception and fertility treatment law, family building trends, complex personal situations and more.
Image: Louisa Ghevaert, CEO & Founder, Louisa Ghevaert Associates
Louisa’s surrogacy law update looked at recent trends and numbers of people undertaking surrogacy in England and Wales. It also reviewed recent surrogacy law rulings in the English Family Court, including consent of surrogates to court orders for surrogate born children, recent disputed surrogacy arrangements and the legalities of adoption orders in a surrogacy context.
Images: Louisa Ghevaert, CEO & Founder, Louisa Ghevaert Associates
The BFS Creating Modern Families Day 2024 started with video presentations offering perspectives from a fertility patient, donor and donor conceived person. Fertility counsellor Suzanne Dark then provided a training session on the role of counselling in fertility treatment and contemporary family creation. This was followed by Dr Alka Prakash’s session which looked at issues associated with treating single women and same sex female couples. Dr Meenakshi Choudhary went on to provide a clinical perspective on the use and donation of eggs and embryos. This was followed by two legal lectures, the first of which was provided by James Lawford Davies addressing, from a clinical perspective, the regulation and legal aspects in the use of donor gametes. Louisa then delivered a surrogacy law update, which included an in-depth review of recent surrogacy law rulings in England and Wales. These legal presentations were followed by a Question and Answer panel session, where James and Louisa answered a range of legal questions relating to clinical practice, fertility treatment delivery and modern family building.
Images, Suzanne Dark fertility counsellor. Dr Alka Prakash Consultant in Reproductive Medicine and Fertility at Cambridge IVF, Dr Meenakshi Choudhary Consultant Gynaecologist in Reproductive Medicine at the Newcastle Fertility Centre, James Lawford Davies partner in complex litigation at LDMH Partners, Suzanne Dark fertility counsellor, Louisa Ghevaert CEO & Founder Louisa Ghevaert Associates
After lunch, James Barrett, a Consultant and expert in Cross Gender Identity, gave a presentation on gender reassignment, surgery and related fertility issues. This was followed by a presentation from Claire Rutherford, Clinic Director at Care Fertility, on cross-border fertility care and use of donor eggs. Vasanti Jadva, Honorary Associate Professor in Reproductive Health at the Institute for Women’s Health, UCL, then presented recent longitudinal research findings about outcomes for families formed through surrogacy and assisted conception.
Images: James Barrett, a Consultant and expert in Cross Gender Identity, Claire Rutherford, Clinic Director at Care Fertility, Vasanti Jadva, Honorary Associate Professor in Reproductive Health at the Institute for Women’s Health, UCL
The final training modules addressed the realities of adoption, with a lived experience from Anya Sizer, followed by a session looking at opening the HFEA Donor Register and the challenges and solutions associated with this. Thank you to the British Fertility Society for another excellent and varied training programme and the opportunity to discuss best practices.
Need Advisory & Consultancy, a Fertility, Surrogacy, Donor Conception or Modern Family Lawyer?
Fertility treatment, donor conception, surrogacy and creation of modern families raises complex issues from a legal and practical perspective.This makes it important for all parties to obtain specialist legal advice at the outset to maximise a successful outcome and place general and family life on a firm footing.
For more information about fertility treatment law click here.
For more information about donor conception law click here.
For more information about family building options and law click here.
For more information about our leading surrogacy law expertise click here.
If you need advisory, consultancy or legal assistance to put in place effective strategies to manage preconception, fertility treatment and global family building, pregnancy, birth and family life contact Louisa Ghevaert by email louisa@louisaghevaertassociates.co.uk or telephone +44 (0)20 7965 8399.
Images: Louisa Ghevaert, CEO & Founder, Louisa Ghevaert Associates
