ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the regulation of assisted conception (such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and donor insemination) and surrogacy in the UK, which was a pioneer in both science and regulation. (For discussion of such regulation in Australia, see Chapter 3.2 of this book.) At the outset, it is worth noting that while most fertility treatment is rigorously regulated, surrogacy is hardly regulated at all. (For further discussions of surrogacy, see Chapters 2.8 (France), 3.2 and 7.1 of this book.) This difference is hard to explain and defend, given that surrogacy arrangements can raise issues that are at least as complicated as those raised when a couple undergoes IVF with their own sperm and eggs.
