Mix-Ups, Mistake and Moral Judgement: Recent Developments in U.K. Law on Assisted Conception

Author: Miola J.

Source: Feminist Legal Studies, Volume 12, Number 1, 2004 , pp. 67-77(11)

Publisher: Springer

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $47.00 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

Hard cases make bad law. In a matter of months, two such cases involving assisted reproduction have appeared before the U.K. High Court and legislation has been enacted. The common threads between them are consent and fatherhood. The first case concerns a ‘mistake’ resulting in sperm from the wrong man being used to create an embryo for a couple and the second the revocation of consent by a man to his former partner being allowed to use an embryo they created together. Furthermore, Parliament has intervened, passing legislation which sets out when sperm from a dead man may be used by his former partner to generate an embryo. This note argues that the three developments cannot be reconciled with one another and that the cases in particular, decided on a narrow legal basis, convey contradictory messages, leading in at least one instance to a gross injustice.

Keywords: assisted reproduction; consent; fatherhood; fertility treatment services; posthumous insemination; reproductive choice

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:FEST.0000026125.37716.d5

Affiliations: 1: Faculty of Law, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH; : jm83@le.ac.uk, Email: jm83@le.ac.uk

Publication date: 2004-01-01