Human embryo research bill debated by UK parliament

It is twenty years since the Human fertilisation and Embryology Act was passed. Find out more about the 1990 Act that regulates fertility treatment and embryo research in the UK.

What changes are proposed?

All changes to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act are controversial. The changes focus on four main areas:

New time limit for abortion.
Access to fertility treatment: a waiver of the ‘father figure’ requirement.
Embryo research - new rules that allow the creation of hybrid embryos.
Allowing fertility techniques to be used to create siblings that can donate tissue to treat a seriously sick existing child.

Details are given below, with the results of the votes, which were made at the end of May 2008.

The upper time limit for abortions

A tabled amendment by Nadine Dorries, the conservative MP, suggests that the time limit for an abortion, currently 24 weeks, should be reduced to 20 weeks. Those who are anti-abortion would like abortions to be banned but most people are expected to be in favour of this change. In 2006, out of 193 000 abortions that took place in the UK, only 1.5% took place between 20 and 24 weeks. What the change means is that those abortions would have to take place earlier, which is not going to cause any great problem when the abortion is for 'social reasons'. The difficulty may arise for parents who have tests at the 20 week point of pregnancy that reveal a severe abnormality in their unborn child. The new ruling would give them very little time to decide whether to have an abortion or not.

Generally, medical experts are concerned that a 24 week baby can now live independently with the medical care that is available: the thought of an aborted baby living when born after 20 weeks has become more than a distant possibility.

Vote result - motion defeated 332 votes to 190 votes, so no change to the upper time limit for abortions will be made.

Access to fertility treatment

Infertility treatment under the 1990 act requires that the woman asking to undergo the treatment shows that a father figure will be around to care for the child with her after the birth. The amended bill proposes that a mother and a father be a requirement of fertility treatment, which wold prevent lesbian couples from being able to undergo fertility treatment.

Vote result - motion defeated by 292 votes to 217 votes, so no father figure is required.

The creation of hyrbid embryos

This is one of the most controversial of the proposed changes. Hyrbrid embryos are those created by putting the nucleus of a human cell such as a skin cell or other mature, developed cell into an animal egg to develop into an embryo. The resulting embryo is a hybrid between a human and an animal but is over 99% human.

Scientists have obtained licences to do this kind of research already, to create stem cells and to use them as research tools to further their research in severe diseases.

The amended bill will also enable scientists to create other hybrid embryos that are currently not covered by the previous act - because the technology was not around at the time to make it even imaginable.

These include:

An embryo formed from the combination of an animal cell and a human cell.
An embryo that is formed from human cells but these have been given an animal gene, or collection of genes. The embryo's cells would contain these animal genes as well as all its human genes.
Finally, the sort of hybrid that causes many people problems is the hybrid that is half human and half animal - made by fertilising an animal egg with human sperm or a human egg with animal sperm.

None of these embryos would be allowed to survive or develop for longer than 14 days and none would ever be allowed to be implanted in a woman with the intention of creating a pregnancy.

Vote result - motion accepted. MPs voted in favour of allowing scientists to create hybrid embryos for research by 336 votes to 176

Brothers and sisters as treatments

One of the other amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act that was debated was the rule allowing parents to plan a child to specifically help an existing child. This would arise if, for example, the parents had a child with a genetic disease or a childhood cancer that could be treated by the stem cells of a closely matching donor.

One of the closest matches possible is a sibling, and a so-called 'saviour sibling' would be created from an embryo fertilised using the egg from the mother and sperm from the father using IVF techniques. The embryos produced would be tested to ensure the cells did not carry the same abnormality as the existing child, and that they were closely matched.

The embryo would then be implanted and the pregnancy would run its course. Umbilical cord stem cells could be obtained from the child at birth, and used to treat the first child.

Vote result - MPs voted in favour of allowing savour siblings by 342 votes to 163