BMA, Briefing Paper on The Abortion Act 1967, November 2007 Summary of the BMA's position on the Abortion Act The BMA supports amending the Abortion Act 1967 so that, in the first trimester (up to 13 weeks): * abortion is available on the same basis of informed consent as other treatment, without the need to meet specific medical criteria * the requirement for two doctors to confirm that the abortion meets the legal criteria is removed. The BMA believes that: * any changes in relation to first trimester abortion should not impact adversely on the availability of later abortions. The BMA does not support: * any reduction in the current 24-week time limit * the extension of nurses or midwives roles in abortion under the Act * extending the current rules regarding “approved premises”.
As of 2008, surrogacy is legal and openly practised in various places; Japan, however, has no regulations or laws regarding surrogacy. This paper reports the situation of surrogacy in Japan and in five other regions (the USA, the UK, Taiwan, Korea and France) to clarify the pros and cons of prohibiting surrogacy, along with the problems and issues relating to surrogacy compensation.
Sports players and fans are being targeted in a campaign to get more sperm donors to help couples struggling to conceive. The National Gamete Donation Trust wants to increase the number of new donors in the UK to about 500, from its latest figure of 384.
Cash incentives and the payment of funeral expenses are two ideas being put forward to encourage people to donate human organs and tissue. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is asking the public if it is ethical to use financial incentives to increase donations of organs, eggs and sperm. Paying for most types of organs and tissue is illegal in the UK. The public consultation will last 12 weeks and the council's findings will be published in autumn 2011.
We provide our bodies or parts of our bodies for medical research or for the treatment of others in a number of ways and for a variety of reasons. However, there is a shortage of bodily material for many of these purposes in the UK. What should be done about it? The Council has set up a Working Party, chaired by Professor Dame Marilyn Strathern, to explore the ethical issues raised by the provision of bodily material for medical treatment and research. Questions to be considered include: * what motivates people to provide bodily material and what inducements or incentives are appropriate? * what constitutes valid consent? * what future ownership or control people should have over donated materials? * are there ethical limits on how we try to meet demand?
Ask a couple struggling to conceive what they would want most in life and "a child" is the obvious answer. They want something money can't buy, even with all the money in the world. For a couple needing egg or sperm donation this reality might change. Money could buy at least the chance of a child if donors were to be paid, if that's one of the outcomes of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) donation review. Various issues are being reviewed in the HFEA public consultation, but payment of egg and sperm donors is high on the agenda.
Anti-abortion campaigners are pressing ahead with a controversial amendment to the Government’s new health bill designed to cut the number of pregnancies which are terminated each year in the UK. The Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, who is proposing the amendment, said yesterday she would not be “bought off” by the promise of a Government consultation on whether or not to offer independent counselling to all women considering an abortion. Instead she said she wanted to change the law to strip abortion charities and doctors of their exclusive responsibility for counselling women seeking to terminate a pregnancy, and hand it to specially trained professionals.
Pregnant women who ask for a Caesarean delivery should be allowed to have the operation, even if there is no medical need, according to new guidelines for England and Wales. The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) states that women should be offered counselling and told of the risks first. Ultimately, however, the decision would be made by the mother-to-be, it said.
The treatment of inherited mitochondrial abnormalities in human embryos using donor mitochondria is an advancing area of research. The techniques involved could have profound implications for future generations. This project will explore the ethical issues relevant to affected families, potential donors, researchers, medical professionals and others trying to understand and respond to the therapeutic possibility of mitochondrial transfer.