HUMAN FERTILISATION AND EMBRYOLOGY BILL


Response of The Catholic Union

The Chairman of the Catholic Union recently wrote a letter to all members of the Union, urging them to support efforts to raise awareness about the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill which is currently being debated in Parliament.

The letter urged members to make use of the Resource Pack which was has been sent to every Catholic parish in the country. The resource pack considers ethical aspects of the provisions of the Bill including hybrid embryos, embryonic stem cell research, the welfare of the child and the Bill's possible impact on abortion legislation.

Members of the Union are encouraged to offer support to their Parish Priest by making use of the resources available, which include a special DVD exploring the latest developments in stem cell research. Suggested activities include attendance at one of the Public meetings about the Bill (see below); organising a meeting of parishioners or inviting a speaker to the local area to talk about the contentious aspects of the Bill. Those who have the possibility to do so are also encouraged to prepare their own speeches on the subject.



Update on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill

Important amendments which had been supported by Lord Alton and others have been defeated in the House of Lords. Members of The Catholic Union will now wish to do all they can to raise awareness of the Bill's provisions and encourage the Catholic laity to be active before the Bill is handed over to the House of Commons in the coming weeks.

The Lords have decided to permit the creation of animal-human hybrid embryos; to remove the 'need for a father' in IVF treatment; and to permit embryos to be selected to become 'saviour siblings' and the remaining embryos to be discarded.

The government successfully passed its own amendments which have had the effect of liberalising some provisions of the Bill. Animal-human hybrid embryos (inter-species embryos) have been renamed 'human-admixed embryos'. The need for a father for children conceived through IVF has been removed and replaced by a Government amendment which simply requires that these children have 'supportive parents'. An amendment for children conceived through IVF to be supported by a father and a mother was rejected 164 votes to 93. In effect this further facilitates the use of IVF by same sex couples and undermines the role of fathers.

The creation and selection of embryos to provide a 'saviour sibling' for an existing sick child was also supported by the Lords. This practice involves destroying healthy embryos which do not match the tissue type of an existing child in the family, and implanting a matching embryo (if there is one) in order to create a child who can provide healthy spare part tissue for the existing child. Before embryos can be screened in this way it must be shown that the existing sibling suffers from a 'serious' condition. Amendments were laid to define 'serious' or replace it with 'serious and potentially life threatening' but these amendments were rejected.