What counts as consent?

You may remember the case of Diane Blood, who had to fight to get the right to use her husband's sperm after he fell into a coma and died. She wasn't allowed to do this in the UK, and her legal battle went on for some years. Eventually, she was allowed to use his sperm, although she had to go abroad to Belgium to do so, and she went on to have two children.

Now another British woman is trying to follow down the same path. Her husband died suddenly, just a week after they'd been to see a consultant for fertility advice. She was granted permission by a judge to have sperm taken from her husband, but must now fight to be able to store and then use that sperm.

It's a tricky legal area, as it all focuses on consent, which someone clearly can't give after they've died, but in this case the woman must hope that the fact that they had been to see a specialist so shortly before his death must make his intentions at the time very clear. The woman's MP, Vince Cable , has now proposed a change in the law so that evidence from a fertility specialist in a case such as this can be admissable.

You can read more about the story here

That bill again

If you do have a particular interest in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, you may be interested to know that you can see the the amendments to the Bill under discussion at the Commons website at www.publications.parliament.uk . It probably won't make much sense if you're not following the progress of the Bill with a keen eye, but anyone who is may want to check it out!

Commons debate on Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill

For anyone who is really interested in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, the full debate from the House of Commons can be read from Hansard here

Parliamentary debates are always rather long-winded and verbose, but if you're particularly interested in the progress any of the issues in the Bill, it may be worth wading through to find the subjects you want to follow.

MPs debate Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill

MPs are discussing the new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill in the Commons today, with interest focusing on some of the more controversial proposals. It's the bill which is at the root of all our current rules and regulations about IVF and embryo research.

The MPs will be able to vote according to their conscience on issues such as hybrid embryos, which cause particular difficulty for Roman Catholics. Hybrid embryos are created using a mixture of human and animal genetic material, and have great potential to help in the treatment of genetic conditions. They are never allowed to develop, and there is no possibility of a hybrid embryo being implanted into a womb and becoming a viable pregnancy, but some feel even an embryo is a step too far.

Then there's the issue of what are known as "saviour siblings" where parents use diagnostic tests along with IVF to have a new baby who will be genetically matched to an existing child with serious medical problems. Bone marrow or cells from the umbilical cord of the new baby can then be used to help save the existing child.

And there's also the issue of the "need for a father". The curent law says clinics must consider this before carrying out IVF treatment. In reality, it's something clinics often choose to ignore anyway, as lesbian couples and single women have been having fertility treatment for many years. Getting rid of this is sometimes seen as an attack on the role of the father, which is perhaps a rather emotive response to an overdue update in order to stop the law being discriminatory.

It will be interesting to see how MPs choose to vote on the bill, and whether they are more swayed by the scientific arguments, religious opinion or their own instinctive qualms about some parts of the legislation. You can read more here

Dad not included debate

You may be interested in a debate taking place next week at Westminster about the "need for a father", something clinics had to take into consideration when they were deciding whether to offer IVF and other similar treatments. The original Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which regulated fertility treatment, had made it law for clinics to think about the welfare of any future children and this had included their "need for a father".

The updated version of this currently going through Parliament does not contain the requirement for clinics to think about a child's need for a father, and next week's evening debate will be looking at a variety of views on this. The speakers are Ruth Deech, the former Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, Juliet Tizzard, the deputy Head of Ethics at the British Medical Association and
Fiona MacCallum , Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Warwick. The debate, organised by Progress Educational Trust, takes place on January 14th, and if you might be interested in attending, you can find more details here
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Spare embryos

There's been some controversy over the revelation that more than a million embryos have been created during fertility treatment and destroyed. Figures released by the Department of Health during the debates over the new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill showed that 1.2 million embryos have been destroyed in the last fourteen years.

This led to calls for more couples to donate any spare embryos to others, which is undoubtedly a good idea for those who feel able to do this, and to some criticism of this "wastage". It is vital to understand that most couples going through IVF would choose to freeze any spare embryos they produce, and that the main reason for the destruction of spare embryos is the simple fact that they are not considered viable.

Perhaps the best way to prevent spare embryos being destroyed is to improve the IVF process.
In the future, more doctors may be interested in "soft" IVF which uses lower doses of drugs to stimulate the ovaries. This produces fewer eggs, and therefore fewer spare embryos, and is not only cheaper but has the added advantage of being safer for women going through fertility treatment.

The "need for a father"

There's been a lot of debate about the "need for a father", which fertility specialists have in the past had to take into account when they're considering whether to treat single women or lesbian couples. The latest legislation on IVF is being discussed in the House of Lords today, and there's controversy about removing the requirement to make sure a father is involved in the new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

The leader of the Roman Catholic church has said it would be "profoundly wrong" to change the rules about the need for a father, but the reality is that around a quarter of children in the UK are currently brought up in single parent families. These one-parent families are not the result of fertility treatment, but of the disintegration of the traditional family unit.

When I was writing my book, The Complete Guide to Female Fertility , I interviewed dozens of single women who'd decided to have fertility treatment. Their awareness of their biological clocks, and the fact that they hadn't met the right partner in time, meant a stark choice between having a child alone, or not having one at all. None of them had gone into this lightly, and they had spent far more time thinking through the consequences for their children and working out how they would cope financially and emotionally than most of those who get pregnant naturally. Having a child without a partner may not be ideal, but it is a reality of life we cannot ignore.