Lesbian co-parents: still not real mothers

Lucy Yeatman  Senior Lecturer School of Law University of Greenwich:

The common law's emphasis on the genetic parenthood has been undermined by advancements in reproductive technologies. In response the Human Embryology and Fertilisation Act 1990 was enacted and answered the question of legal parentage. However as reproductive technology continued to develop providing routes to parenthood using techniques such as embryonic screening and manipulation it was apparent that HFEA 1990 was inappropriate. The solution was an amendment by way of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 which aimed to bring the law up to date with these advancements and set ethical boundaries. Although HFEA 2008 sets parameters for embryo research and reflects society's willingness to accept that the definition of the family has changed it still retains a focus on two parent families. It has recently been announced that the UK will be set to become the first country to allow the creation of babies using DNA from three people. In backing this IVF technique the Government has confirmed that this legislation which re-enforces the common law...

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