• FAQs for patients
  • Sex selection
  • Treatment
  • Transferring, importing and exporting from abroad
  • Parenthood
• FAQs for donors
• FAQs for clinic staff
• FAQs about the HFEA

These FAQs are written as though the reader is the woman who is to receive treatment and carry the child.

I am married and we intend to use donor sperm or donor embryos in our treatment on or after 6th April. How will the new parenthood law affect us?

Your husband will automatically be recognised as the father of the child, unless he explicitly states that he does not consent to your treatment.  There is a section in the new parenthood consent forms that asks this question.

If you have treatment using donor sperm or embryos created with donor sperm and your husband has explicitly stated in the form that he does not consent to your treatment, he will not be the father of any child born from your treatment. The child will have no legal father.

 

I am married and my clinic is planning to carry out donor insemination or transfer embryos created using donor sperm before the 6th April. What should I do?

Your husband will automatically be recognised as the father of the child, unless he explicitly states that he does not consent to your treatment.
If you have treatment using donor sperm or embryos created with donor sperm and your husband has explicitly stated that he does not consent to your treatment, he will not be the father of the child. The child will have no legal father.

The new parenthood law only applies to patients whose donor insemination or embryo transfer takes place on or after 6th April.

 

More parenthood FAQs

• General FAQs about the new parenthood law

FAQS about what the new law means for:

• married couples using the husband’s sperm  
• female civil partners using donor sperm
• couples who are not married or in a civil partnership
• male same-sex couples planning surrogacy arrangements
• single women using donor sperm
• FAQ on birth registration and parental orders
• FAQs about parenthood after death
• What clinics need to know

 

You can also sign up to HFEA e-updates and receive the latest news from the HFEA.

If you have any further questions, please speak to your clinic or contact us.

Page last updated: 14 April 2009

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