Clause 42
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [Lords]
6:00 pm
Mark Simmonds (Shadow Minister, Health; Boston and Skegness, Conservative)
I have a couple of examples that the Minister might like to consider overnight so that she can include them in her correspondence tomorrow. However, my first question does not relate to that matter. It is not clear what happens if a civil partner does not consent. Am I to assume that the same applies in civil partnership as with marriage—that, as we discussed earlier, consent is assumed?
I shall give examples of two complexities. First, what happens in a civil partnership in which both partners consent—by implication or otherwise—and the civil partnership is legally separated post-implantation of the embryo and one member of the original same-sex couple marries a man during the gestation period? Is that man the father? Does common law apply in that situation? Is that man therefore the parent?
The second example has the same initial set of circumstances. If there is a legal separation of a civil partnership, but a new and different civil partnership is then put in place, who is the parent? Is it the initial civil partner, when consent was assumed for the implantation to take place, or is it the new civil partner with whom the pregnant woman has entered into a civil partnership? Alternatively, is it up to the pregnant woman to make a choice between the two?