UCL Institute for Women's Health (IfWH)

The Centre for Reproductive Ethics & Rights

Lead: Dr Ray Noble

The Centre for Reproductive Ethics and Rights is a collaboration with the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) together with the Bioethics Unit at the University of Witwatersrand. We are particularly interested in the cultural and social impact of developments in reproductive medicine, and in issues of empowerment and capacity building in relation to reproductive rights and access to health care. Our objectives are to:

• develop research and scholarship in reproductive ethics and rights
• provide opportunities for graduate students studying for higher degrees in the field of reproductive ethics and rights
• develop women-centred projects to understand factors affecting access to reproductive health care

As an integral part of the Institute for Women's Health the Centre is well-placed to consider ethical issues in reproductive and women's health care in collaboration with our clinical colleagues and heath care workers. For example, we are currently considering issues arising from the extension of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis and developments in fetal gene therapy. Our aim is to work with colleagues to review and establish ethical guidelines in the light of new developments in reproductive technology and fetal medicine. We are also developing undergraduate teaching intitiatives in reproductive ethics with a special study module for medical students and also offer opportunies for graduate study.

We aim to improve understanding of ethics in women's health by:

1. Running courses in ethics in the medical curriculum (SSCs) and incorporating ethics into existing programmes by running workshops for students at UCL;
2. Research and scholarship in ethics in women's health;
3. International collaboration in teaching  and scholarship.

For information on ethics teaching and projects in India visit www.ucl.ac.uk/medical-ethics.

Recent Publications

• Noble,R., Iqbal,M. (Forthcoming). Islam and fertility. in Blyth,E., Landau,R (ed.) Faith and Fertility. Jessica Kingsley [ in press]
• Bahadur,G., Malik,S., Iqbal,M., Sanyal,A., Noble,R. (2008). Admixed human embryos and stem cell: legislative, ethical and scientific advances. Reproductive Biomedicine Online 17(1), 25-32. ISSN: 1472-6483
• Noble,R., Bahadur,G., Iqbal,M., Sanyal,A. (2008). Pandora's box: ethics of PGD for inherited risk of late-onset disorders. Reproductive Biomedicine Online 17(3), 55-60. ISSN: 1472-6483
• Noble,R., Muttukrishna,S. (2008). Informed consent and confidentiality in reproductive health care: views of women attending a community clinic in Andhra Pradesh, India. Inovations and Progress in Healthcare for Women]
• Noble,R., Muttukrishna,S., Kanamury,V., Maharana,S. (2008). A short course in Medical ethics in Women’s Health: Internationalising the curriculum. UCL Teaching and Learning Conference and Exhibition (TILT) 2008
• Noble,R., Rodeck,C.H. (2008). Ethical considerations of fetal therapy. Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology 22(1), 219-231
• Noble, R. (2006). Developmental Origins of Health and Disease: Ethical and Social Issues. Chapter 36 in Gluckman, P., Hanson, M.A. (ed.) Developmental Origin of Health and Disease. Cambridge University Press, 472-480