HFEA welcomes Deceased Fathers Bill
18 September 2003
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) welcomes the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Deceased Fathers) Bill which allows a man to consent to his name being recorded on the birth certificate of a child born as a result of fertility treatment undertaken after his death.
Suzi Leather, Chair of the HFEA says:
"It is right that patients are prompted to think about these important issues and offered appropriate counselling so that they can give informed consent to future registration on the birth documentation."
Under the new law, a deceased man can now be registered as the father of a child born as a result of fertility treatment undertaken after his death, but he must have signed appropriate written consent before his death. The consent requirements do not apply to men who died before this Act was passed, so applications to include these men on their child's birth certificate can still be made without written consent to be registered as the father.
In both cases the names will be added to the birth certificate along with reference to the date of death. The law only allows the deceased men to be recorded as the father in the birth register and does not apply to any rights of inheritance or other legal rights.
The HFEA has contacted clinics advising them of the change in law and of the additional consent that is required if a man wishes to be included on the birth certificate of a child born following fertility treatment that was started after the man died.
Ends
Notes to editors
Background on posthumous use of sperm
Since the HFEA was established in 1991, a woman wishing to be inseminated with her late partner's sperm can only be treated if the man has previously given his consent to the posthumous use of his sperm for her fertility treatment.
In 1997 the HFEA made a Special Direction permitting the export of sperm to the Centre for Reproductive Medicine in Brussels for use in the treatment of Mrs Diane Blood. Mrs Blood wished to use the sperm of her deceased husband which was extracted whilst he was in a coma just before he died from meningitis. Under UK law the HFEA could not permit Mrs Blood to use her husband's sperm in the UK as it was obtained without his consent. The HFEA's decision to allow a Special Direction for export followed judicial review proceedings that reached the Court of Appeal.
In the case of Mrs Blood the Court of Appeal ruled that although treatment in the UK would be unlawful and the HFEA had no discretion to permit it, under European Community law Mrs Blood had the right to obtain medical treatment services abroad. The Court of Appeal also stated that although in this particular case Mrs Blood should be allowed to seek treatment abroad, similar cases could not occur in the future as the judicial proceedings had clarified that treatment using sperm preserved without consent is unlawful.
Following the success of her treatment abroad, Mrs Blood has campaigned for a change in the law to allow her husband's name to be put on her children's birth certificate. Her campaign led to the introduction of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Deceased Fathers) Bill which received Royal Assent today.
Legal requirements
The requirement remains for written consent to be obtained before posthumous use of sperm is allowed, but from today there is an additional requirement for written consent to be obtained before a deceased father can be included in the birth register.
The HFEA was set up in August 1991 as part of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The HFEA's principal tasks are to license and monitor clinics that carry out in vitro fertilisation (IVF), donor insemination (DI) and human embryo research. The HFEA also regulates the storage of gametes (eggs and sperm) and embryos.
Page last updated: 12 March 2009