(Except clauses 4, 11, 14 and 23, schedule 2, and any new clauses or new schedules relating to the termination of pregnancy by registered medical practitioners) - Schedule 6
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [Lords]
1:00 pm
Dawn Primarolo (Minister of State (Public Health), Department of Health; Bristol South, Labour)
I have one last point to make in response to the issues raised by hon. Members.
My hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, South-East asked about whether the fact that a child was donor-conceived should be on the birth certificate. In recognising the difficulty that others, such as the Joint Committee on Human Rights and the Royal College of Midwives, have with that being on a public document, he raised the prospect of whether one way round the problem would be to have two birth certificates—one public and one private. The private one would be longer and would indicate that the individual was donor-conceived.
I will not express an opinion either way, because we are discussing one of the options that we would need to consider when carrying out a review, which we have committed ourselves to doing within four years of the Bill coming into force. The question is whether there is a way in which the law can be changed to balance the issues that hon. Members have raised—the right to know of the donor-conceived child against the rights of the donor and anonymity—and to make progress. That is certainly the sort of issue that could be explored, and that was why the Government decided that it was better to consider it in the context of a review and to report back to the House.
The schedule is long because it deals with England and Wales; where the law varies in Scotland, it deals with Scotland, and it also deals with Northern Ireland. Much of it is duplication, but for different jurisdictions.