Science, Law and Bio-Ethics: Kent/Ghent Bioethics Collaborative Initiative, February 2015.

Organised by Kent Law School, Bioethics Institute Ghent, and the University of Kent, Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Reproduction (CISoR)

All are welcome to come along to the discussions take place. All the events are being held on Kent University’s Canterbury Campus.

For more information contact Pamela White P.White-229@kent.ac.uk

Tuesday 24 February 5:30pm, Eliot College Lecture Theatre 2

VESSEL —-Film Viewing and Discussion moderated by Professor Sally Sheldon

VESSEL begins with a young doctor who lived by the sea, and an unlikely idea. Rebecca Gomperts, horrified by the realities created by anti-abortion law around the world, felt compelled to challenge this. Her method: to provide abortions on a ship in offshore waters.We witness the creation of an underground network of emboldened, informed activists, working at the cutting edge of global reproductive rights, who trust women to handle abortion themselves. VESSEL is Rebecca’s story: one of a woman who heard and answered a calling, and transformed a wildly improbable idea into a global movement.

Wednesday 25 February Keynes College Lecture Theatre 5, 1.30pm -5.30pm

Confronting Science, Law and BioEthics

A series of papers will be given through the afternoon:

‘Revisiting the Regulation of Human Fertilisation and Embryology’. A Roundtable discussion Chaired by Dr Kirsty Horsey with presentations

‘What constitutes parenthood according to (aspiring) parents, knowing that one partner will not be/is not genetically related to their child?’ (Dr Veerle Provoost)

‘After the ‘need for….a father’: ‘The welfare of the child’ and ‘supportive parenting’ in UK assisted conception clinics’ (Ellie Lee)

‘The role of implantation in grounding a regulatory cliff edge between contraception and abortion & how that is challenged by the development of new ‘contragestive’ technologies’ (Prof. Sally Sheldon)

‘25 years of PGD’ (Prof. Darren Griffin)

‘Hidden Data?: What Canada’s ART Registry (CARTR) Reveals about Gestational Carriers’ (Dr Pamela White)

‘The precious vessel hypothesis: Ubiquity and implications of ‘Benevolent Sexism’ for interventions on conception, pregnancy and childbirth’ (Prof. Robbie Sutton)

Also paper by Prof. Guido Pennings

The afternoon will end with refreshments.