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‘What is ‘supportive parenting’? The new ‘Welfare of the Child’ clause in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (2008)’

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The passage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (2008) provoked considerable debate and sustained critical scrutiny. While the 2008 Act introduced a number of controversial changes to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (1990), foremost among the issues to excite policy, media and popular attention was the amendment of the so-called welfare clause. This clause forms part of the licensing conditions which must be met by any clinic before offering those treatment services covered by the legislation. In the original text of the 1990 Act, this included the requirement that clinicians consider the child’s ‘need for a father’ before providing a woman with treatment.

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Julie McCandless Oxford Brookes University Pregnancy and Pregnancy Planning in the New Parenting Culture 22-23 rd June 2010
HFE Act 2008 Amending statute HFE Act 1990: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority; embryo research; reproductive use of embryos ex utero ; donation , storage and post-storage use of gametes Controversial issues in 2008 Act: creation of animal-human embryos embryo selection parenthood provisions (and artificial gametes)
S 13(5) welfare clause: A woman shall not be provided with treatment services unless account has been taken of the welfare of any child who may be born as a result of the treatment ( including the need of that child for a father ), and any other child who may be affected by the birth. ‘ supportive parenting’
‘ No Father Required’ ‘ Fathers no longer required: Fertility chief signals an IVF revolution’ ( The Independent ) ‘ Women win right to children without fathers’ ( The Times) ‘ Another blow to fatherhood: IVF mothers can name ANYONE as ‘father’ on birth certificate – and it doesn’t even have to be a man’ ( Daily Mail ) ‘ The end of men? Scientists create sperm in the lab out of stem cells ( Mirror )
Question Why did s 13(5) excite so much attention? Especially compared to parenthood provisions Popular press Responses to consultations Time spent in various Parliamentary committees Time spent in Parliamentary debates (welfare clause – > 8hrs; parenthood provisions - < 1 hr)
‘ Male role model’ Haimes, Harding, Herman and Cooper, Jones etc Arguably little effect on clinical practice Douglas Increasing numbers of single and lesbian women availing of treatment HFEA Code of Practice guidance on interpretation to clinicians: increasingly liberal iterations: Role of contacting the patient’s GP Welfare assessment -> Risk assessment Concern with discrimination in service provision
1. History of s 13(5) ‘The Welfare Clause’ Part of a bundle of licensing conditions 1990 Act – compromise Extensively studied clause: ‘ need for a father’ empirical work theoretical work
2. The Reform Process House of Commons Science and Technology Committee - remove welfare clause entirely: ‘ offensive’ ‘fitness for parenting requirement’ Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority: ‘ need for father’ – anachronistic, discriminatory Department of Health: not justified: safety (indirect equality measure) Joint Scrutiny Committee (HL & HC): ‘ need for a second parent’ Parliamentary debates: ‘ need for supportive parenting’
‘ support by a father and mother’ ‘ supportive parenting and family life’ ‘ supportive parenting and advantages of having a mother and father’ ‘ advantages of having a mother and a father’
3. Simplicity of the Phrase Welfare clause : 8 hours (NB. restricted time in HC) Parenthood provisions : 1 hour Platform for debating wider anxieties (fatherhood) Youth disaffection in society Prison populations Teenage sexual practices Welfare dependency Drug, alcohol addiction etc Conflation of deliberately created fatherless families and other types of fatherless families
4. The Natural Family “ What we are talking about is the natural order of things, and I make no apology for standing up for what I believe the generally accepted notion of the ideal family unit – the one designed by nature, that of a mother, father and child” (Sir Patrick Cormack, HC Debs, col 206-7, 12 May 2008) Scrutiny of those seeking to use assisted methods of reproduction
5. Welfare “ By deleting the wording of the 1990 Act…we are giving an unambiguous signal to license holders that they do not have to take as seriously the welfare of the child requirements in the 1990 Act. It is a diluted version of the 1990 Act wording” (Gary Streeter, HC Debs, col 1109, 12 May 2008) “ It is claimed that if…we replaced ‘the need for a father’ with a need for ‘supportive parenting’ it would fundamentally undermine fatherhood. ‘Supportive parenting’ and ‘fatherhood’ are hardly mutually exclusive” (Emily Thornberry, HC Debs, col 1123, 12 May 2008)
6. Symbolic Message To men: “ [Removal of ‘the need for a father’] would make a fresh statement to the effect that a child does not need a father….at a time when many [men] feel undermined as providers and parents” (Baroness Deech, HL Debs, col 674, 19 Nov 2007) “ That does not seem to be the intention of the Government, but if that is how it is widely interpreted it ought to stay in the Bill, partly because it has always been a pretty ineffective bit of legislation ” (Baroness Warnock, HL Debs, col 696, 19 Nov 2007)
To children: “ The signal that would be received by the…one child in four currently in a family without a father, is that we believe those families are inferior and those children are second-class citizens. As a result we would be stigmatising them in the name of a family form that we wish them to have, but do not have” (Baroness Hollis, HL Debs, col 81, 21 Jan 2008) To single and lesbian women
7. Parentage (paternity) Right to know biological father “ The Government’s decision to remove the reference to ‘the need for a father’ from law and social policy is a huge error. Women should not be interrogated at IVF clinics about their sexual orientation or their marital status…but the need for a father, and the right to know who he is, are the issues” (Lord Alton, HL Debs, col 681-2, 19 Nov 2007) Gendering of discourse of ‘genetic truth’ Misplaced concerns: hetero v same-sex families Birth registration and legal parenthood
‘ Supportive Parenting’ The 2008 compromise: “ The term does not prejudge or seek to impose a standardised view of what the family ought properly to be” (Lord Lester, HL Debs, col 68, 21 Jan 2008) Diversity of views in Parliament
HFEA 8 th Code of Practice Guidance to clinicians: Supportive parenting is a commitment to the health, well-being and development of the child. It is presumed that all prospective parents will be supportive parents, in the absence of any reasonable cause for concern that any child who may be born, or any other child, may be at risk of significant harm or neglect. (para 8.11) Empirical question as to how provision will be interpreted
Potentially Controversial Cases Older women (men) Transgender persons Unwillingness to share information regarding genetic origins or circumstances of birth Platonic ‘couples’ and non-dyadic partnerships

More Related Content

‘What is ‘supportive parenting’? The new ‘Welfare of the Child’ clause in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (2008)’

  • 1. Julie McCandless Oxford Brookes University Pregnancy and Pregnancy Planning in the New Parenting Culture 22-23 rd June 2010
  • 2. HFE Act 2008 Amending statute HFE Act 1990: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority; embryo research; reproductive use of embryos ex utero ; donation , storage and post-storage use of gametes Controversial issues in 2008 Act: creation of animal-human embryos embryo selection parenthood provisions (and artificial gametes)
  • 3. S 13(5) welfare clause: A woman shall not be provided with treatment services unless account has been taken of the welfare of any child who may be born as a result of the treatment ( including the need of that child for a father ), and any other child who may be affected by the birth. ‘ supportive parenting’
  • 4. ‘ No Father Required’ ‘ Fathers no longer required: Fertility chief signals an IVF revolution’ ( The Independent ) ‘ Women win right to children without fathers’ ( The Times) ‘ Another blow to fatherhood: IVF mothers can name ANYONE as ‘father’ on birth certificate – and it doesn’t even have to be a man’ ( Daily Mail ) ‘ The end of men? Scientists create sperm in the lab out of stem cells ( Mirror )
  • 5. Question Why did s 13(5) excite so much attention? Especially compared to parenthood provisions Popular press Responses to consultations Time spent in various Parliamentary committees Time spent in Parliamentary debates (welfare clause – > 8hrs; parenthood provisions - < 1 hr)
  • 6. ‘ Male role model’ Haimes, Harding, Herman and Cooper, Jones etc Arguably little effect on clinical practice Douglas Increasing numbers of single and lesbian women availing of treatment HFEA Code of Practice guidance on interpretation to clinicians: increasingly liberal iterations: Role of contacting the patient’s GP Welfare assessment -> Risk assessment Concern with discrimination in service provision
  • 7. 1. History of s 13(5) ‘The Welfare Clause’ Part of a bundle of licensing conditions 1990 Act – compromise Extensively studied clause: ‘ need for a father’ empirical work theoretical work
  • 8. 2. The Reform Process House of Commons Science and Technology Committee - remove welfare clause entirely: ‘ offensive’ ‘fitness for parenting requirement’ Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority: ‘ need for father’ – anachronistic, discriminatory Department of Health: not justified: safety (indirect equality measure) Joint Scrutiny Committee (HL & HC): ‘ need for a second parent’ Parliamentary debates: ‘ need for supportive parenting’
  • 9. ‘ support by a father and mother’ ‘ supportive parenting and family life’ ‘ supportive parenting and advantages of having a mother and father’ ‘ advantages of having a mother and a father’
  • 10. 3. Simplicity of the Phrase Welfare clause : 8 hours (NB. restricted time in HC) Parenthood provisions : 1 hour Platform for debating wider anxieties (fatherhood) Youth disaffection in society Prison populations Teenage sexual practices Welfare dependency Drug, alcohol addiction etc Conflation of deliberately created fatherless families and other types of fatherless families
  • 11. 4. The Natural Family “ What we are talking about is the natural order of things, and I make no apology for standing up for what I believe the generally accepted notion of the ideal family unit – the one designed by nature, that of a mother, father and child” (Sir Patrick Cormack, HC Debs, col 206-7, 12 May 2008) Scrutiny of those seeking to use assisted methods of reproduction
  • 12. 5. Welfare “ By deleting the wording of the 1990 Act…we are giving an unambiguous signal to license holders that they do not have to take as seriously the welfare of the child requirements in the 1990 Act. It is a diluted version of the 1990 Act wording” (Gary Streeter, HC Debs, col 1109, 12 May 2008) “ It is claimed that if…we replaced ‘the need for a father’ with a need for ‘supportive parenting’ it would fundamentally undermine fatherhood. ‘Supportive parenting’ and ‘fatherhood’ are hardly mutually exclusive” (Emily Thornberry, HC Debs, col 1123, 12 May 2008)
  • 13. 6. Symbolic Message To men: “ [Removal of ‘the need for a father’] would make a fresh statement to the effect that a child does not need a father….at a time when many [men] feel undermined as providers and parents” (Baroness Deech, HL Debs, col 674, 19 Nov 2007) “ That does not seem to be the intention of the Government, but if that is how it is widely interpreted it ought to stay in the Bill, partly because it has always been a pretty ineffective bit of legislation ” (Baroness Warnock, HL Debs, col 696, 19 Nov 2007)
  • 14. To children: “ The signal that would be received by the…one child in four currently in a family without a father, is that we believe those families are inferior and those children are second-class citizens. As a result we would be stigmatising them in the name of a family form that we wish them to have, but do not have” (Baroness Hollis, HL Debs, col 81, 21 Jan 2008) To single and lesbian women
  • 15. 7. Parentage (paternity) Right to know biological father “ The Government’s decision to remove the reference to ‘the need for a father’ from law and social policy is a huge error. Women should not be interrogated at IVF clinics about their sexual orientation or their marital status…but the need for a father, and the right to know who he is, are the issues” (Lord Alton, HL Debs, col 681-2, 19 Nov 2007) Gendering of discourse of ‘genetic truth’ Misplaced concerns: hetero v same-sex families Birth registration and legal parenthood
  • 16. ‘ Supportive Parenting’ The 2008 compromise: “ The term does not prejudge or seek to impose a standardised view of what the family ought properly to be” (Lord Lester, HL Debs, col 68, 21 Jan 2008) Diversity of views in Parliament
  • 17. HFEA 8 th Code of Practice Guidance to clinicians: Supportive parenting is a commitment to the health, well-being and development of the child. It is presumed that all prospective parents will be supportive parents, in the absence of any reasonable cause for concern that any child who may be born, or any other child, may be at risk of significant harm or neglect. (para 8.11) Empirical question as to how provision will be interpreted
  • 18. Potentially Controversial Cases Older women (men) Transgender persons Unwillingness to share information regarding genetic origins or circumstances of birth Platonic ‘couples’ and non-dyadic partnerships