Third Party Assisted Conception Across Cultures

Eric Blyth is Professor of Social Work at the University of Huddersfield, UK, having worked for 12 years in social work practice and management. He has published widely on assisted conception, edited the Journal of Fertility Counselling and provided consultation for radio and television. His interest in the subject originated from direct experience of childlessness, infertility treatment and adoption. Ruth Landau worked for over twenty years in social work practice and management, including eight years as General Director of the Israeli Family Planning Association. She has organized national conferences and lectured in national and international forums on assisted conception.

This is a collection of articles descriptive of third party assisted conception practices and regulations in a variety of countries. At the outset it must be said that for a book that deals with a rather esoteric topic, one that appears to be distant from the average reader, it is well written and holds the interest even of those who may not be familiar with that area of endeavour... It is an interesting text to be perused. The authors, scholarly professionals themselves, demonstrate an understanding not only of infertility and third party assisted conception, but also of the religious and cultural contexts in which these practices arise.

• Introduction. Eric Blyth, Univerity of Huddersfield and Ruth Landau, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 1. Argentina: Hopes, Results and Barriers. Luisa Baron, Buenos Aires University. 2. Australia: Choice and Diversity in Regulation and Record Keeping. Helen Szoke, Infertility Treatment Authority, Melbourne. 3. Canada: The Long Road to Regulation.Jean Haase, London Health Services Centre, Ontario. 4. Finland: Unregulated Practices, Familiarity and Legality. Maili Malin, STAKES, Finland and Riitta Burrell, Researcher, Michigan. 5. Germany: The Changing Legal and Social Culture. Petra Thorn, Protestant University of Applied Sciences, Darmstadt. 6. Hong Kong: A Social, Legal and Clinical Overview. Ernest Ng, Athena Liu, Celia Chan and Cecilia Chan, University of Hong Kong. 7. Israel: Every Person has the Right to Have Children. Ruth Landau. 8. New Zealand: From Secrecy and Shame to Openness and Acceptance. Ken Daniels, University of Canterbury, Christchurch. 9. Poland: Provision and Guidelines for Third Party Assisted Conception. Eleonora Bielawka-Batorowicz, University of Lodz. 10. Singapore: Practice and Challenges. Rosaleen Ow, National University of Singapore. 11. South Africa: Cultural Diversity. Charlene Laurence Carbonatto, University of Pretoria. 12. The United Kingdom: Evolution of a Statutary Regulatory Approach. Eric Blyth. 13. The United States of America: Eric Blyth with Jean Benward, psychotherapist, California. Conclusion Eric Blyth and Ruth Landau. Editor and Contributor Biographies. Subject Index. Name Index.