Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008^[1]

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to amend the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 and the Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985; to make provision about the persons who in certain circumstances are to be treated in law as the parents of a child; and for connected purposes.
Citation	2008 c. 22
Territorial extent	United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent	13 November 2008
History of passage through Parliament
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

Part of a series on
Human enhancement
Advocacy Rationale Adaptionist "Beneficient" Emancipatory Compensatory Democratic "Directive" Libertarian "Metahumanistic" Posthumanistic "Prometheist" Preventative Transhumanistic Paradigm Biohappiness Cyborgs Eugenics Intelligence amplification Moral enhancement Prostheses
(De facto) germline interventions Selective Cloning Counseling Genetic Genomic Pre-conception Genetic enhancement Genetic engineering Epigenome editing PGD Embryo quality Oocyte selection Polygenic (risk) score (technical article) Prenatal testing Selective abortion Sex selection Sperm sorting "Nobelist sperm banks"
Somatic interventions Body hacking Somatic gene therapy for color blindness in sports doping Stem-cell therapy Embryonic cells Fetal tissue implant Chemical Stimulants Amphetamine Methamphetamine Ritalin Nootropics Modafinil Piracetam Xanthine derivatives Caffeine Neurological Brain implant Brain–computer interface Deep brain stimulation "Man-Computer Symbiosis" (1960) Neuralink Neurohacking
Opposition Appeal to nature Bioconservatism "Brave New World Argument" Chesterton Francis Fukuyama Our Posthuman Future (2002) Cloning prohibition Leon Kass Stem cell controversy "Designer baby" "Frankenstein's monster" He Jiankui genome editing incident Hwang affair Against life extension Undesirability of immortality Nikolas Kompridis Legal EU convention on Bioethics Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (vetoed) United Nations Declaration on Human Cloning In the UK 1990 act 2003 act 2008 act 2001 act C.S. Lewis The Abolition of Man (1943) That Hideous Strength (1945) "Playing God" Religious response to ARTs "Wisdom of repugnance"
Related ART Exowombs IVG Augmented learning Deep ecology Treating executive dysfunction Evolutionary humanism Longevity Anti-aging movement Life extension Rejuvenation Young blood transfusion Natalism Natura naturans Pontifical and Promethean man Collapse of the therapy-enhancement divide Promethean gap Technophobia Therapy-enhancement distinction
v t e

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (c. 22) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act constitutes a major review and update of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The Guardian described the bill as a ‘landmark piece of legislation’ intended to bring UK fertility law in line with rapidly advancing scientific practices.^[2]

According to the Department of Health, the Act's key provisions are:^[3]

• ensure that all human embryos outside the body—whatever the process used in their creation—are subject to regulation.
• ensure regulation of "human-admixed" embryos created from a combination of human and animal genetic material for research.
• ban sex selection of offspring for non-medical reasons. This puts into statute a ban on non-medical sex selection currently in place as a matter of HFEA policy. Sex selection is allowed for medical reasons—for example to avoid a serious disease that affects only males.
• recognise same-sex couples as legal parents of children conceived through the use of donated sperm, eggs or embryos. These provisions enable, for example, the civil partner of a woman who carries a child via IVF to be recognised as the child’s legal parent.
• retain a duty to take account of the welfare of the child in providing fertility treatment, but replace the reference to "the need for a father" with "the need for supportive parenting"—hence valuing the role of all parents
• alter the restrictions on the use of HFEA-collected data to help enable follow-up research of infertility treatment.

The Bill's discussion in Parliament did not permit time to debate whether it should extend abortion rights under the Abortion Act 1967 to also cover Northern Ireland. The 2008 Act does not alter the status quo.^[4]

The Act also repealed and replaced the Human Reproductive Cloning Act 2001.

The inclusion of hybrid embryo research provisions led to intense moral debates in Parliament, with one faction praising the potential for life-saving therapies and another warning against ‘unforeseen consequences.’”^[5]

Under the act, new rules regarding the designation of a second parent in cases of IVF treatment came into force on 6 April 2009. Prior to these changes, UK law automatically recognized the husband in a married couple undergoing IVF as the child’s second legal parent. The 2008 Act extended this right to lesbian couples and single women, allowing them to nominate a second parent who was not necessarily a spouse or civil partner.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) advised prospective parents to consider delaying IVF treatment until the new regulations took effect, if they wished to take advantage of the updated second-parent provisions.^[6]