Results 1-7 of 7 for gay speaker:Iain Duncan Smith

Orders of the Day: Clause 14 — Conditions of licences for treatment (20 May 2008) has video

Iain Duncan Smith: ...clinics should be sensitive to the needs of all parents, as I have stressed from the beginning. If they are sensitive, when the requirement comes up for people to take cognisance in this way, even gay and lesbian couples will think about it. It is a great prompt to allow people to think, "Yes, maybe we'll have to find some way round that. We'll have to do something". As the hon. Member...

Orders of the Day: Clause 14 — Conditions of licences for treatment (20 May 2008) has video

Iain Duncan Smith: ...is that when one tidies up, one can also tidy out. We need to be conscious of what may be lost, and balance it against what may be gained. Why do the Government need to make the change? Some in the gay and lesbian community will feel uneasy about the original guidance on the father, and they will have made representations. They will probably feel some unease about the amendment. I am...

Orders of the Day: Clause 14 — Conditions of licences for treatment (20 May 2008) has video

Iain Duncan Smith: ...received an overwhelming amount of correspondence from the public in favour of a reference to fathers and mothers. More importantly perhaps, clause 54(2)(c) refers for the first time in the Bill to gay couples acting as fathers, and I believe that in the interests of balance, there should be a reference to mothers. We propose to amend the Bill accordingly. Since 1990 there has been a huge...

Orders of the Day: Clause 14 — Conditions of licences for treatment (20 May 2008) has video

Iain Duncan Smith: ...in Chelsea as it is for people living in difficult parts of Lambeth. It is not about whether the families are broken—I used the word "broken" because they are without a father. Cohabiting and gay couples are slightly different. I shall deal with the subject of gay couples in a moment, and I hope that that will explain a little more to the hon. Gentleman.

Orders of the Day: Clause 14 — Conditions of licences for treatment (20 May 2008) has video

Iain Duncan Smith: ...world, that fathers are less important than mothers and that, therefore, they do not need to be considered. There is little research that any of us can claim one way or the other about outcomes for gay and lesbian couples. I draw no inference from that other than that we need more research, and I am sure that that will come in time. I—like everybody else, I hope—would want such...

Orders of the Day: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (12 May 2008) has video

Iain Duncan Smith: Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government have got themselves twisted into knots over this issue? Only 2 per cent. of IVF treatments are to single parents or gay couples, but the problem is wider than that, even if we put those people to one side. By making this change, we send a powerful signal to everyone involved that fathers no longer matter. We know of the difficulties of breakdown...

Orders of the Day: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (12 May 2008) has video

Iain Duncan Smith: I wish to clarify that, as it is the aspect that I am interested in. The new wording has been introduced in the Bill, yet I am aware of no gay couple who have been refused treatment. They are protected under the Human Rights Act and they cannot be refused treatment. The original provision was a guidance measure, as a signal, mainly to heterosexual couples, that the absence of fathers has an...