Britain's House of Lords this week is debated the second reading of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Section 23 of the bill would amend a provision in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (Sec. 25). That current section calls for a Code of Practice that gives guidance to those providing treatment services about, among other things, the child's need for a father. The proposed bill would eliminate this reference to the need for a father, thus clearly making IVF available to single women and to lesbian couples. Yesterday's Pink News reports that during the debate, a number of Lords objected to the proposed change, often using arguments based at least in part in religion.
For example, Lord Elton said: "to rule out the male responsibility seems to go in the face of nature, religion and good sensible politics on the part of a government who are trying to stop overfilling the jails of this country." Lord Ahmed argued that "Muslims have a profound belief not just in the sanctity of human life from conception onwards but in the importance of knowing your antecedents: the root from which you spring." Baroness Paisley of St George's argued: "This proposal totally disregards the biblical law on mixing kinds or species as laid down in Holy Scripture, and would be an offence to the Creator Himself, who made man in His own image." Responding for the government, Under-Secretary of State for Health, Lord Darzi said: "the available research evidence suggests that it is the quality of parenting that is the factor of prime importance, not the gender of the parent per se."
