Ruth Lynn Deech, Baroness Deech, DBE is a British academic, lawyer, bioethicist and politician, most noted for chairing the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), from 1994 to 2002, and as the former Principal of St Anne's College, Oxford. Deech sits as a Crossbench peer in the House of Lords (2005–) and chaired the Bar Standards Board (2009–2014).

St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 graduate students and retains an original aim of allowing women of any financial background to study at Oxford. It still has a student base with a higher than average proportion of female students. The college stands between Woodstock and Banbury roads, next to the University Parks. In April 2017, Helen King, a retired Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner, took over as Principal from Tim Gardam. Former members include Danny Alexander, Edwina Currie, Ruth Deech, Helen Fielding, William MacAskill, Amanda Pritchard, Simon Rattle, Tina Brown, Mr Hudson and Victor Ubogu.