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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

My Lords, at this late hour I simply wish to make a few important points, not least in order to restore some balance to the debate. I start, as I have in all my contributions on the Bill, by highlighting again the need for us to rely on solid evidence. Over the past few months, I have been concerned when individual cases have been cited, some in the press, which your Lordships have no way of verifying independently, emotive though those cases may be. It behoves your Lordships’ House to look not only at the evidence base but at current practice before we legislate. I had not intended to talk about birth certificates—the issue is not before us in the amendments, and the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, will take us into further discussions about birth certificates next week—but, as the person who raised the matter of birth certificates in Committee, I, too, have received a great deal of communication about them. There is an equally emotive case to be made on behalf of people who do not wish there ever to be any mark on any birth certificate that identifies a person as being donor-conceived. We will have a fuller debate in time, but noble Lords should be aware of that. I wish to flag up two matters, one of which is the work of the Donor Conception Network. I have been involved in it, I have seen some of its work, and I invite noble Lords to take the easy action of clicking on to its website. There they will find not only guidance to prospective parents but guidance from existing donor fathers, donor mothers and same-sex couples about the importance of telling children at an early stage about their status and about all other aspects of the experience that they are likely to have and the things that they should consider as parents. So, even without the legislation, much work is already being done. Many of the debates so far on this matter have been based on some very old data. I looked at data from a research study that was published last year. Prospective parents, who had been approached via infertility counsellors in licensed clinics, were specifically asked whether, in view of the changes in the rules on anonymity, they would be more or less likely to tell children at an early stage and what were the issues around that. Two-thirds of the prospective parents said that they were more likely to tell children of their donor-conceived status. Interestingly, though, a tenth said that they would be less likely. That flags up the fact that, whatever law we may pass, in practice this is an extremely difficult matter on which to legislate. Why? Because families are different, their circumstances are different, and human nature varies. We should do two things: we should encourage the Government to continue to support all voluntary efforts such as the talking and telling courses that are being implemented by the Donor Conception Network for parents; and we should be mindful that counselling is a resource, and it costs. I can think of many examples across the whole spectrum of social policy where one would like counselling to be available. I urge one note of caution: people who have made the conscious decision to go to a licensed clinic for this treatment may not be the people most in need of counselling; they may be well aware of what they are letting themselves in for and what the issues are for any future children. So be aware that adding a cost to a treatment may well put off some people who, in all other respects, would be extremely good parents of whom we would otherwise approve.