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11
Jan
2021

Life, family and fertility in 2021

As we start 2021, many of us are thinking about what will happen over the next 12 months and wondering what it will mean for our health, jobs, relationships, families and hopes for a baby. Despite the grim situation caused by the ongoing pandemic in the UK at the moment and our third lockdown, there is hope for the future and that is a message that we all need to focus on and hold firm. Whilst jobs, colleagues and wealth can come and go, time spent with our relatives, children, family and loved ones is very precious.

17
Dec
2020

Podcast: The Intricacies of Fertility Preservation

Louisa Ghevaert is delighted to collaborate with leading fertility lifestyle platform Ribbon Box founded by Eloise Edington to produce a podcast entitled "The Intricacies of Fertility Preservation". Eloise explores with Louisa why people preserve their fertility, how demand for fertility preservation has increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact this has had on family building and the fertility treatment sector, as well as the legal implications and need for fertility law reform.

14
Dec
2020

Fertility, Genomics and Covid-19

Progress Educational Trust’s one-day annual conference entitled “Fertility, Genomics and Covid-19” took place on Wednesday 9 December 2020. For the first time, it took place virtually with a varied panel of expert international speakers. It generated thought-provoking and wide-ranging debate about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our health and the fertility sector, including: the changing role of the HFEA, challenges for fertility treatment delivery, ethical issues, effect on individual fertility and the fetus and the genetic resilience of women.

30
Nov
2020

The future of female fertility: are biological constraints inevitable?

Recently, we have seen developments in experimental techniques which focus on rejuvenating female fertility, including stem cell ovarian transplantation. Given the finite nature of female fertility and its age-related decline, there is growing interest in scientific research which seeks to overcome these biological constraints and deepen our understanding of human reproduction. If this (and other) pioneering research yields further promising results in future, it might widen women’s fertility options and reproductive choice.

26
Nov
2020

The fragility of human fertility and male reproduction

The fragility of human fertility should not be underestimated. Individual fertility and family building hopes and dreams can be unexpectedly lost or impaired through accident, illness, premature infertility and death. Recent medical studies provide additional evidence of its fragility and analysis that the male reproductive system is, in particular, vulnerable to a range of viral infections including Covid-19. As such, it has never been more important to take steps to safeguard our fertility and family building plans now and into the future.

18
Nov
2020

Legal parentage disputes: modern families and the law

Legal parentage is a critical part of the creation, stability and protection of modern families and those formed through assisted conception. However, all too often parents, children and families experience problems, disputes, uncertainty and anxiety about legal parentage in the UK and around the world. Earlier this week (16 November 2020) the Supreme Court refused permission to hear a transgender man’s case to be recognised as the legal father of the child to whom he gave birth. Articles in the media this week also report that Japan is currently looking at revising its assisted reproduction law with a draft bill, which if approved, would for the first time enable those who conceive with donor eggs and sperm to become legal parents in Japan.

09
Nov
2020

Fertility treatment delivery during the continued Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic shows little sign of abatement as it continues to cause disruption, loss and death around the world. In light of the intensification of the Covid-19 pandemic and England’s decision to implement a second nationwide lockdown on 5 November 2020 for a month, the HFEA issued updated guidance for the delivery of licensed fertility treatment services on 2 November 2020. However, notwithstanding the welcome continued delivery of fertility treatment services in the UK, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic creates a wide variety of legal and wider issues for those seeking to undertake fertility treatment and assisted conception that require careful consideration and management.

20
Oct
2020

The UK’s New National Genomic Healthcare Strategy, Genome UK

On 19 October 2020 BioNews published a comment piece by specialist fertility and family lawyer Louisa Ghevaert which assesses the UK government's new National Genomic Healthcare Strategy, Genome UK. Louisa explains that this genomic healthcare strategy does not go far enough in repositioning future healthcare strategy, policy and practice. By not fully articulating and integrating human reproduction and fertility treatment into future genomic healthcare strategy, Louisa explains that it does not represent a truly cohesive approach in setting our genomic healthcare strategy 'over the next ten years' and beyond.

05
Oct
2020

Latest trends in family formations through UK fertility treatment

The HFEA published its latest report on 22 September 2020 called “Family formations in fertility treatment 2018”. It gives valuable insight into the creation of modern family forms in the UK and an upbeat pre-pandemic picture of fertility treatment in 2018. However, the ongoing disruption, uncertainty and loss caused by the global Covid-19 pandemic continues to unfold around us and drive unprecedented and rapid levels of change. As such, this evolving picture creates complex issues and challenges in terms of the current and future management and navigation of fertility treatment and healthcare, as well as our ability to create and protect our families in 2020 and into the future.

02
Oct
2020

Egg Freezing and UK Law Reform

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics published a Briefing Note on Egg Freezing in the UK on 30 September 2020. It concludes that there are few arguments against increasing storage limits for social egg freezing in the UK and it coincides with the government’s ongoing review of gamete and embryo storage law. As such, it provides further impetus for reform of gamete and embryo storage law in the UK and it provides a helpful overview of key policy, social, and ethical issues. It also highlights the fact that the difference in storage limits between medical egg freezing and social egg freezing has been strongly criticised and it raises some important issues that need to be addressed moving forward.

22
Sep
2020

Human Genome Editing: World Health Organization and Global Governance

Nearly two years has passed since news broke of the world’s first gene-edited babies in China in November 2018, triggering a global outcry about the risks of human genome editing and the creation of ‘designer babies’. This swiftly led to the establishment of an Expert Advisory Committee on Human Genome Editing in February 2019 by the Director-General of the World Health Organization (‘the WHO’). This Expert Committee is expected to publish its final recommendations for global governance and regulation of human genome editing technology later this year and in doing so there are big issues to tackle.

10
Sep
2020

Human gene editing: from evolution to revolution? Why we need fertility and wider law reform part IV

On Thursday 3 September 2020, The International Commission on the Clinical Use of Human Germline Genome Editing published its long awaited report. It was tasked with addressing the scientific considerations of human gene editing. It sets out a framework for scientists, clinicians, and regulatory authorities and states to consider when assessing potential clinical applications of human heritable genome editing (‘HHGE’).

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