Congratulations to Beth Warren, who has won her High Court battle to continue storing her husband’s sperm, overturning a Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority ruling that the sperm would have to be destroyed next April. The issue in the case was not about...
The High Court has suspended an emergency order authorising sperm to be collected from a man in a coma. The man unexpectedly suffered a cardiac arrest late last year, which put him in a vegetative state from which he was unlikely to recover. An application was made...
The press has reported the case of a UK woman who has won permission from the HFEA to have her deceased husband’s sperm exported abroad for IVF treatment after his death. You can read more about the story here. How does UK law work on post-death use of sperm? The...
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has this week launched a public consultation on new, IVF-based, techniques designed to avoid mitochondrial disease. UK researchers are working on these new medical techniques that could allow women to avoid...
There was press coverage over the weekend about a UK egg donor agency which has been leafleting students at Cambridge University to try and recruit egg donors. The tabloid coverage was yawningly predictable – vulnerable young students being enticed to sell their eggs...
Natalie has written an article for the Fertility Network UK magazine about posthumous conception - conceiving a child with stoed eggs, sperm or embryos after someone has died. The article sets out the legal position for surviving mothers and surviving fathers, and...
We think that the government’s recent decision to scrap the HFEA is a big mistake, aimed only at short term cost savings. The HFEA has led the world in fertility sector best practice since its inauguration in August 1991 and it is a highly regarded guardian of our...
The government announced this week that the HFEA was one of several quangos set to be axed, as part of the government’s bid to cut costs and reduce the UK’s deficit. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has regulated fertility treatment and embryo research...
The last piece of the government’s flagship Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 came into force today, completing the first major overhaul of the UK’s fertility laws in twenty years. The HFE Bill is a major piece of government legislation which has updated the...
Back in October, our clients Melanie and Robert Gladwin succeeded in winning a last minute change to the law on embryo storage, allowing them (and other prospective parents like them) to keep their precious frozen embryos. Their campaign included a petition presented...