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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

I hope that we will think carefully before making this change. I am certain that it is not the intention of the noble Baroness or that of her noble friend who tabled the amendment to widen this debate to the area of characteristic selection, but I worry that if we change the words in the Bill, that is how it could be misrepresented outside your Lordships’ House. I am glad that the Bill unequivocally prohibits sex selection. We are absolutely right to do that. We have to guard against the mentality that can sometimes lead to wanting designer babies. A very good new book, Everything Conceivable: How Assisted Reproduction is Changing Men, Women and the World, which the Librarian in your Lordships’ House made available to me, has just been published in America. Interestingly, it was written by a feminist, and I would not necessarily share all her conclusions; but she says that what she calls ““yuppie eugenics”” can lead to all sorts of pressures when people are tested. I fully accept that this is more likely to happen in the United States than here, but we should always guard against these things. In the book, she says, for instance, that one couple argue about what height their egg donor should be. Another provides a score list, based on looks, education, IQ and sporting interest. Clearly, none of these are abnormalities but are characteristics. I hope that the Minister will tell us whether, if we were to change the words in the Bill, it might be open to that interpretation.