The family law implications and consequences of For Women Scotland

Dr Peter Dunne Associate Professor in Law and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow University of Bristol

The Supreme Court decision in For Women Scotland v the Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16 had significant consequences for trans people within equality and non-discrimination law. However it is highly likley that the judgment’s reasoning will effect the position of trans people more widely across a range of legal contexts that were not considered by the Supreme Court. To that end this article considers two areas of family law which the article argues will be effected by the reasoning of For Women Scotland. First whether it is lawful for trans men with Gender Recognition Certificates (GRCs) to access fertility treatment in order to become pregnant under the framework provided by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. Second the determination and conferral of legal parenthood for trans people who conceive through assited reproduction in circumstances where the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008’s ‘parenthood provisions’ apply. This article argues that the...