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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

I welcome both these thought-provoking amendments. Of the two, that of the noble Earl, Lord Howe, is my preferred option. The amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, proposes that a male adult should be involved in the process. Two things immediately spring to mind. The noble Lord, Lord Winston, said that any woman seeking treatment who knew of the provision would bring a man—a friend or anyone—along with her to back up her case. How will a responsible doctor ensure that a genuinely responsible male adult is involved? Are they to interrogate him in the surgery or clinic? How can they ensure that this is not a guy the woman has just met in a bar or at a party who said that he would do this for her? The only way in which that amendment could be made to be practical would be to put an economic tag on it and say that if the male adult was the named person when the treatment took place, he had financial responsibility for any child subsequently. In that case, it would be very difficult for a patient seeking treatment to find a man who would, off the top of his head, take on financial responsibility for a child. For those two reasons, I therefore do not see how Amendment No. 55A could possibly work in practice. Amendment No. 60 looks to the general welfare of the child. We have heard many times that the role model for a child—whether it is born by donor sperm or the sperm of its father who later dies or it is born to a couple who subsequently divorce—will eventually be the woman’s social network, family network, the men within the family and her circle of friends. Many males—and, indeed, females—will become role models for the child. Amendment No. 60 encompasses that, is more practical and leaves the situation more open.