Amy Rowe Speaks At The Dura Breakfast On Fertility & Family Formation

On 21 May 2025, I had the pleasure of ditching my usual morning commute to speak at the Dura breakfast talk arranged by Lottie Leefe, founder of The Dura Society, on family formation to celebrate the launch of fellow panellist, Zita West’s, new book, Conceive.

It’s always a privilege to speak on a panel with Zita West, not only because of her unrivalled holistic expertise and standing in the fertility world, but also because of the personal significance she holds for me. Speaking with Zita is especially meaningful because she and her clinic helped me to have my own children through IVF, for which I am forever grateful.

As a pioneering fertility expert, midwife, acupuncturist and trusted adviser to women and couples navigating conception and IVF, Zita West was uniquely placed to introduce her book, Conceive. Drawing on more than four decades of clinical experience, the book distils her holistic approach to fertility, inviting readers to think not only about the body, but also about the mind and emotions that shape the journey to parenthood. Central to that approach is Zita’s HUG method, which considers the relationship between the heart, uterus and gut, and the way those systems interact with the emotional and physical realities of trying to build a family. A key theme of our discussion was the idea of the “zero trimester” - the preparatory phase before pregnancy begins, which is so often overlooked. We also reflected on the effects of pressure, stress and over-optimisation on fertility, and on the importance of emotional wellbeing and the nervous system in supporting conception.

From a legal perspective, what emerged was that fertility law is often misunderstood, and that the cost of misunderstanding can be significant. Alternative paths to parenthood can raise complex legal questions, and one of the strongest themes from the conversation was the gap that can arise between expectation and legal reality. Issues around donor anonymity, the distinction between known and anonymous donors and whether they have parental rights, the rules governing consent to embryo use and storage, and the law around surrogacy are all areas where misconceptions are common. Many people assume that intentions alone are enough, but in reality, these alternative paths to parenthood sit within a complex legal framework, and proceeding without legal advice can result in unexpected and unintended outcomes. The discussion reinforced a simple but important point: legal advice should not be an afterthought; it should form part of the pre-planning from the outset.

It was a privilege to be part of such an open and thoughtful discussion, made all the richer by the audience’s active participation and the insightful questions and comments they brought to the conversation.