Kirstie Gibson considers the court’s approach to the acquisition of parenthood
The recent decision of the President of the Family Division in Re Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (Cases A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H) [2015] EWHC 2602 (Fam), [2015] All ER (D) 57 (Sep) highlights the serious repercussions of non-compliance with the requirements for obtaining consent to parenthood and provides a useful reminder of the steps that fertility clinics must take.
The applicants were parents of children conceived following fertility treatment at various clinics. Each applicant had, at the time of the birth of their child, understood that they were the parent of their child. They thought they had complied with the legal requirements to acquire parenthood. Unfortunately due to the administrative incompetence of the clinics, that was not the case.
Re Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (Cases A–H) raised questions as to the extent of the regulatory powers of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in allowing such administrative incompetence to exist in relation to, what Munby P called, “a question of the most fundamental gravity and importance.
