{"id":235,"date":"2018-12-13T10:57:19","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T10:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=235"},"modified":"2018-12-13T10:57:19","modified_gmt":"2018-12-13T10:57:19","slug":"better-regulations-or-no-regulations-thoughts-on-pets-2018-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=235","title":{"rendered":"Better regulations or no regulations? Thoughts on PET\u2019s 2018 conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

The annual conference<\/a> of the Progress Educational Trust<\/a> (PET), ‘Make Do or Amend: Should We Update UK Fertility and Embryo Law?’ could not have been more timely. Held at the beginning of December, it shortly followed emerging reports from China that the first gene-edited babies will soon be born. While attendees did not miss the opportunity to discuss these developments, the conference provided food for thought for anyone interested in the legal aspects of fertility and reproduction.<\/p>\n

The general sense in the room was that the law can hardly keep up with technological developments in this area. As many speakers brilliantly argued, this can lead to problems and frustrations when trying to apply old laws to current contexts. Professor Emily Jackson underlined the issues faced by UK patients as a result of the 10 year legal limit on embryo storage, while Dr Kylie Baldwin highlighted similar issues experienced by women undergoing egg freezing for social reasons. Additionally, the law can be especially restrictive for families who conceive through donation and surrogacy. Both Natalie Gamble and Natalie Smith did an excellent job of underlining changing family practices.<\/p>\n

I was especially struck by the diversity that exists within European fertility law. Oftentimes, regulations cannot be separated from the ethical and religious context of their respective countries. This was especially evident in Professor Robert Spaczy\u0144ski\u2019s presentation on reproductive laws in Poland and Professor Christian de Geyter\u2019s overview of assisted conception in Switzerland. Giving attendees a fascinating picture of the larger European landscape, Satu Rautakallio-Hokkanen, the Chair of Fertility Europe, walked us through many differences between legal restrictions in assisted conception and services offered in various countries across the continent.<\/p>\n

For me, a crucial question emerged during the discussion: why is this area of medical practice as regulated as it is? Some have argued that we are talking about procedures that should not even be within the purview of the law. Others might think that we just need better laws, instead of getting rid of them altogether. It is clear, however, that for the time being, fertility and embryo law remains contentious. Consequently, we need to have these debates and conversations in order to find the best solutions. PET\u2019s event made me reflect on bigger questions than the ones I had going in. I had no doubt that better regulations are needed. Now, I wonder, however, about legal systems\u2019 inherent limitations and whether such institutions have the adequate means to cope with rapid changes. Should certain procedures remain unregulated? I have not yet decided on my definitive views, but I\u2019m glad these conversations are happening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The annual conference of the Progress Educational Trust (PET), ‘Make Do or Amend: Should We Update UK Fertility and Embryo Law?’ could not have been more timely. Held at the beginning of December, it shortly followed emerging reports from China that the first gene-edited babies will soon be born. While attendees did not miss the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[8],"tags":[10,6,11,24],"class_list":["post-235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conferences","tag-infertility","tag-conferences","tag-ivf","tag-law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9YI6o-3N","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":617,"url":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=617","url_meta":{"origin":235,"position":0},"title":"PET’s annual conference: The current state and regulation of the fertility sector","date":"13th December 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"At the beginning of December, we kept up our tradition of attending the Progress Educational Trust\u2019s (PET) annual conference. The title and topic of this year\u2019s online event was \u2018Reproducing Regulation: Who Regulates Fertility and How?\u2019 With 16 talks across the full day, I have chosen just a handful here\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":247,"url":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=247","url_meta":{"origin":235,"position":1},"title":"Our Year in Review","date":"1st March 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"2018 has been a busy year for the Remaking the Human Body team. We are happy to share that we have, so far, conducted observations at 5 sites and have interviewed more than 50 professionals and patients about their views on time-lapse, IVF technology, and add-ons in the UK. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":369,"url":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=369","url_meta":{"origin":235,"position":2},"title":"PET’s annual conference: COVID-19 and the fertility sector","date":"16th December 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I had the pleasure of attending this year\u2019s online Progress Educational Trust (PET) annual conference where the topics for consideration were fertility, genomics and COVID-19. Consultant Jane Stewart opened the first session by speaking about the experiences of fertility clinics and she used the surfing analogy of \u2018riding the wave\u2019\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":404,"url":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=404","url_meta":{"origin":235,"position":3},"title":"Nordic STS conference 2021","date":"25th May 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"We were very pleased that two papers from the project were presented at the Nordic Science and Technology Studies conference on 20-21 May, which was hosted (online) by Copenhagen Business School. I presented a paper on IVF treatment \u2018add-ons\u2019 from the perspectives of IVF patients and partners, fertility professionals, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":157,"url":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=157","url_meta":{"origin":235,"position":4},"title":"ESHRE 2018","date":"25th July 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"At the beginning of this month, I had the pleasure of attending one of the biggest conferences on reproduction, organized by the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE). The ESHRE 2018 annual meeting took place in Barcelona, so, needless to say, I was brimming with excitement not only\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/ESHRE.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":278,"url":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=278","url_meta":{"origin":235,"position":5},"title":"PET\u2019s annual conference: Reality check! Questions of evidence","date":"17th December 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Progress Educational Trust\u2019s (PET) annual conference has become an established event in our December calendar and this year we continued the tradition. This year's conference was entitled \u2018Reality check: A realistic look at assisted reproduction\u2019 and dealt with a range of topics including evidence, regulation, informed choice for patients\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236,"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions\/236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}