UAE okays proposal to draft new law on medically-assisted pregnancy

A proposal to draft a federal bill on medically-assisted pregnancies, and provide updated regulations for new techniques, was approved on Sunday by the UAE Ministerial Council for Services.

A new bill would replace Federal Law No. 10 for 2008 regarding the licensing of fertility centres in the country.

The new bill would also expand the oversight of the existing law by adding new controls to regulate preservation of human reproductive cells (gametes), assisted-pregnancy techniques, conditions of fertilisation, as well as introducing rules for research, experiments and practices.

The bill is aimed to provide a legal framework for practices in one of the sensitive domains of modern medicine, while remaining consistent with the UAE’s interest in keeping pace with developments in all fields, while preserving the identity, as well as ethical and religious identity of society.