ABSTRACT
The term new reproductive technologies or NRTs covers a whole range of techniques but has come to be associated mostly with in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and embryo transfer, where eggs (ova) are removed from women, fertilised in a laboratory dish, and the resulting embryo placed in the woman's womb. The NRTs also include techniques such as GIFT or gamete intrafallopian transfer, where egg(s) and sperm are put in the women's fallopian tube before fertilisation; human embryo research; IVF-assisted surrogacy; genetic screening of embryos; fetal therapy and gene therapy of embryos and fetuses. The term NRTs has also come to include other methods of assisted conception, such as donor insemination (DI) and surrogacy, neither of which is technological nor scientific by definition. DI is the placing of sperm inside the vagina as close to the cervix as possible; it does not require advanced medical knowledge nor technological expertise. Surrogacy is the name given to an arrangement whereby a woman bears a child for another person or couple. Yet, both insemination and surrogacy have been conflated with IVF. They both can, as IVF, be defined medically as infertility treatment; and DI is, as IVF, non-coital reproduction 1 .
