Clause 2 - Consequential and retrospective provision
Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Deceased Fathers) Bill
12:45 pm
Dr Evan Harris (Oxford West and Abingdon, Liberal Democrat)
I have two questions. First, from when will the period of three months be used? If someone was born in 1993 and the Act comes into force in 2003, for example, 10 years will have elapsed since the birth of the child. If the three months are timed from the Act coming into force, for retrospective cases since 1991, and if that differs from prospective cases, in which the time limit is 42 or 21 days plus discretion from the time of the birth, where is that made clear?
My second question is about the date of 1 August 1991. With your permission, Mr. Sayeed, I will deal with it here rather than in a stand part debate because we need to make progress. That date has been chosen as the one on which the 1990 Act came into force, so meaningful provisions date from then. Interestingly, however, the Act regulates the storage, and not just the use, of sperm and embryos. Should the beginning of the process of storage, rather than simply the process of use, be the cut-off point in order to ensure—as I am sure is the intention—that the produce of the measures are fully regulated under the 1990 Act, warts and all?