Events

Passport to Parenthood: The Evidence and Ethics Behind Cross-Border Reproductive Care

Progress Educational Trust
Institute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK
24 November 2010 - 9.30am-5pm

The 2010 annual conference of the Progress Educational Trust (PET), supported by Merck Serono.

Cross-border reproductive care - popularly referred to as 'fertility tourism' - is the booming phenomenon of individuals and couples travelling overseas for fertility treatment.

One motivation for this is the UK's acute shortage of donor sperm and eggs, resulting in long waiting lists for treatment at home. Another factor is the ability to circumvent UK fertility regulation in favour of more permissive regimes, which allow the use of sperm and eggs from anonymous donors (prohibited in the UK since 2005) or the transfer of multiple embryos to fertility patients (deprecated in the UK). There may also be more mundane reasons for receiving fertility treatment abroad, such as better quality of service, or the simple possibility of combining treatment with a holiday.

This PET discussion conference will explore every aspect of cross-border reproductive care. Researchers investigating the scale and causes of the phenomenon will present their findings, while experts from various disciplines will offer contrasting perspectives on the ethical, practical and legal ramifications. In the PET tradition, following introductory presentations the bulk of each session's running time will be devoted to soliciting questions and comments from the audience.

Ultimately, the conference will ask whether cross-border reproductive care is best understood as a problem, or as a solution to a problem.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided on the day. Booking details are as follows, and a detailed conference agenda and timetable are included below.

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Attendance fee:

£120

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Concessions:

Friends of PET

£60

(Please note that you or your organisation must be a registered Friend of PET for 12 months to qualify for this concession)

Students and unwaged

£30

(Please note that those qualifying for this concession must bring evidence of student or unwaged status with them to the conference)

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You can either book online to attend the conference via PayPal, by clicking on the 'Buy Now' or 'Add to Cart' buttons above, or you can book by posting a cheque (payable to 'Progress Educational Trust') for your attendance fee to 'Events, Progress Educational Trust, 140 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8AX. If you have any enquiries, email

Discounted attendance fees are available for parties of more than five people - email for details.

If you are neither a student, unwaged, nor making a block booking, you can still reduce the cost of attending the conference by becoming a Friend of PET - email for details.

The conference agenda and timetable are as follows.

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9.30am-10am: Registration

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10am-11.15am: Session 1

The Evidence Behind Cross-Border Reproductive Care

Speakers

• Dr Françoise Shenfield
  Clinical Lecturer in Infertility and Honorary Lecturer in Medical Ethics at University College London's Medical School, and Coordinator of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology's Cross-Border Reproductive Care Taskforce

• Lorraine Culley
  Professor of Social Science and Health and Associate Director of the Mary Seacole Research Centre at De Montfort University, and Principal Investigator of the Transnational Reproduction project

Chair

• Dr Evan Harris
  Former Liberal Democrat Shadow Science Minister and former Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon

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11.15am-11.45am: Refreshments

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11.45am-1.15pm: Session 2

Who Oversees Overseas?

Speakers

• Juliet Tizzard
  Head of Policy at the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, Founder of BioNews and former Director of PET

• Natalie Gamble
  Partner at Gamble and Ghevaert

• James Lawford-Davies
  Partner at Lawford Davies Denoon, and Adviser to PET

• Zeynep Gürtin-Broadbent
  Research Fellow at the Centre for Family Research at University of Cambridge, and Convener of the Cambridge Interdisciplinary Reproduction Forum

Chair

• Sally Sheldon
  Professor of Medical Law and Ethics at the University of Kent's Law School, and Chair of the Research and Ethics Committee at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service

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1.15pm-2.15pm: Lunch

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2.15pm-3.30pm: Session 3

Having a Child: How Far Should You Go?

Speakers

• Professor Naomi Pfeffer
  Honorary Fellow at University College London's Department of Science and Technology Studies

• Janet Radcliffe Richards
  Professor of Practical Philosophy at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics in the University of Oxford's Faculty of Philosophy

• Stuart Lavery
  Director and Person Responsible of IVF Hammersmith, and Adviser to PET

Chair

• Lord Naren Patel
  Crossbench Peer, Chancellor of the University of Dundee, and Vice-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Infertility and Maternity

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3.30pm-4pm: Refreshments

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4pm-5pm: Session 4

Cross-Border Reproductive Care: A Problem or a Solution?

The conference will conclude with a discussion that recapitulates points from earlier sessions, and asks whether cross-border reproductive care is best thought of a problem, or as a solution to a problem.

Chair

• Dr Allan Pacey
  Senior Lecturer in Andrology at the University of Sheffield's Medical School

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