Seanad debates

Thursday, 26 March 2015

Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of John CrownJohn Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is quite possible that we could be in a situation where people’s last chance at parenthood involves an embryo which is genetically one half theirs and the other half a donor’s which, for want of a better word, is contracted under the new law. There could be a disputed break-up, perhaps acrimonious, where the consent to use an embryo rests with someone with no genetic connection and he or she wields that veto power over that embryo as a weapon. My own sense is that this is wrong. Take the case of someone who is the genetic parent of an embryo with someone who has legally donated another gamete to the formation of that embryo. Then the situation arises where someone extraneous to the genetic parentage of the child but is not still in a relationship with that person has a veto over the embryo. Such people should not have veto power over the use of it, especially if it effectively condemns the other person to childlessness.

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