The new world of medically-assisted reproduction and ethical governance in the Muslim Middle East: establishing a robust network

During the past three decades, the assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) industry has flourished in the Muslim Middle East with the creation of hundreds of fertility clinics in Iran, Egypt, Turkey and small Arab countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Lebanon. Some, such as Iran, Turkey, UAE and Lebanon, are currently destinations for reproductive tourism. However, the development of ARTs is paralleled by a vacuum of well-established regulations in the Muslim nations.

We aim to establish an international, multidisciplinary network of academics working in the social sciences, bioethics, humanities, biopolitics and biomedical sciences to explore the key debates in ethical governance of ARTs in the Muslim Middle East.

We will build a strong international network of academics for future collaborative work about ethics and bio-governance of the new ARTs in the Muslim Middle East to act as the platform for the development of globally and locally sensitive guidelines.