2017 will see further controversy over abortion
by Philippa Taylor, TCW:
2017 will be another busy and challenging year on beginning of life issues. Here is a taste of what to expect:
Abortion
October 2017 marks the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act. Throughout the year this significant anniversary will generate media publicity, events, stories from women and will fire up campaigns by those who want to see the laws tightened up (or at least adhered to) and by those who want to relax the law on abortion even more.
Expect to see more focus this year on the operation of UK abortion clinics in the UK and Africa, and new research on the link between abortion and preterm births. There will be further Parliamentary debate on the discriminatory provision in the Act that permits abortion to term for disability, with the committee stage of Lord Shinkwin’s Abortion (Disability Equality) Bill and the We’re All Equal campaign in support of the Bill. It will be fascinating to see what happens in the US under the more overtly pro-life Trump administration.
Artificial Gametes
Scientists have now created artificial mouse eggs, using just a bit of mouse skin, and used these eggs to produce fertile pups. While it is unlikely that humans will be born via artificial eggs anytime soon, it is likely that we will see more teams developing artificial human gametes for research purposes. (In 2015 scientists from the UK and Israel created precursors to gametes from embryonic stem cells.)
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