Scottish Council on Human Bioethics

15 Morningside Road, Edinburgh EH10 4DP, Tel: 0131 447 6394

13 January 2005

Press release:

IVF rules on parents should not be relaxed

The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics is concerned that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s (HFEA) consultation entitled ‘Tomorrow’s Child’ may result in the IVF rules on parents being relaxed. [1]

Dr. Calum MacKellar, the Director of Research of the SCHB stated, in this respect, that "when a child is created through artificial or natural means, his or her well-being and welfare should always come first" adding that "if this does not happen, there would be a risk of the child being considered as a sort of object for the sole gratification of the parents".

Dr. MacKellar also stated that "if a policy change did take place after the HFEA consultation, then it would be taking place in the dark without sufficient evidence based research demonstrating that future children would not be put at serious risk through inappropriate parenting."

The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics concurred, furthermore, that more research on the reasons why parents want (1) children and (2) children 'of their own', should be considered before changing the rules on Medically Assisted Procreation. In this regard, Dr. MacKellar said that "surprisingly as it may seem, not enough is yet understood concerning the reasons why parents want children ‘of their own’ in the first place, as opposed to, for example, adoption."