A book edited by reproductive law expert Dr Kirsty Horsey offering critical insights into the legislation for human fertilisation and embryology is now available in paperback.
Revisiting the Regulation of Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Routledge, 2015), critically evaluates changes made to the law by the passage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 and asks whether the Act achieved the stated aim of making the law governing assisted reproductive technologies ‘fit for purpose’.
Bringing together a collection of essays authored by international experts, the book examines the risks and challenges emerging from both established and existing technologies and techniques in the field of human fertilisation and embryology.
Key topics featured include problems with DIY assisted conception; the lack of reform in respect of the regulation of surrogacy arrangements; and mitochondrial DNA transfer. Part of the Biomedical Law and Ethics Library series, the book is likely to be of interest to lawyers, doctors, nurses and interested members of the public.
In addition to Dr Horsey’s essay (from which the book derives its name), other contributions by Kent Law School staff and scholars include: Senior Lecturer Dr Karen Devine (‘Thinking outside the (egg)box: Egg-share agreements, cord blood and benefits in kind’); Specialist Associate Lecturer Dr Pamela White (‘A less than perfect law: The unfulfilled promise of Canada’s Assisted Human Reproduction Act’); PhD student Antony Blackburn-Starza (‘Compensating reproductive harms in the regulation of twenty-first century assisted conception); and PhD student Katia Neofytu, co-author with Dr Horsey of ‘The fertility treatment time forgot: What should be done about surrogacy in the UK?’
Dr Horsey is a Senior Lecturer at Kent Law School. She has published widely on issues relating to the regulation of human reproduction and has been actively researching surrogacy law – and advocating reform – for 20 years. She has written a number of articles and book chapters on surrogacy in the UK, including publications in Child and Family Law Quarterly and the Medical Law Review.
In addition to her involvement with Kent’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Reproduction (CiSoR), Dr Horsey is a member of the advisory committee for the Progress Educational Trust (PET), a charity that works to inform debate on assisted conception and genetics. She is also a Contributing Editor for BioNews, a free news and comment digest published by PET. More details of Dr Horsey’s work on surrogacy are available on the Surrogacy Law Reform Project website.
Most recently, surrogacy law reform championed by Dr Horsey was featured in a special edition of the Journal of Medical Law and Ethics (JMLE) and was the subject of a debate held in the House of Lords in December 2016.