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The University of Southampton
Southampton Ethics Centre

How was the legalisation of mitochondrial donation possible in the UK? Exploring key strategies employed during the debates Event

Time:
14:00
Date:
8 November 2017
Venue:
Building 2, Room 3043, Highfield Campus, SO17 1BJ

Event details

We hope you will be able to join us for the first HEAL seminar of the year, which is being co-organized with one of our research sub-groups: the Reproduction, Ethics, Policy, Regulation, Obstetrics and Law (REPROLaw) group.

HEAL/REPROLaw Seminar

This presentation will provide a critical analysis of the debate which preceded the legalisation of mitochondrial donation in the UK. In 2015, the UK was the first country to authorise the clinical application of these new high-profile IVF techniques, also referred to as ‘three-parent IVF’, as they involve the conception of offspring made with the genetic material of three people.  Drawing on conceptual tools from feminist studies and public policy analysis, I will examine the key strategies which were successfully employed to facilitate public and political acceptance of these controversial techniques.

Speaker information

Dr Cathy Herbrand ,De Montfort University,a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Reproduction Research, De Montfort University. She was awarded her PhD in Sociology from the Université libre de Bruxelles, and has previously held posts at King’s College London, London School of Economics and Political Science, and the University of Ottawa. Her research interests lie in the sociological and anthropological study of family, biotechnologies and genetics, with a particular focus on reproductive decision-making, multi-parenthood and gender issues. Specifically she has undertaken studies of multi-parenthood amongst gay and lesbian families, reproductive choices in the context of mitochondrial disorders, and cross-border surrogacy, and is a co-investigator on an ESRC funded interdisciplinary study of egg donation in the UK, Belgium and Spain.

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