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FATHERHOOD CHANGE IN UK REGULATIONS.

Started by mensfe_admin, 2009-03-02 13:25

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mensfe_admin

ANOTHER BLOW TO FATHERHOOD  (Daily Mail 2nd March 09)

Family values were under attack again last night with the news that single women having IVF will be able to name anyone they like as their baby's father.
New regulations mean that a mother could nominate another women to be her childs father.
"The father does not need to be genetically related to the baby nor be in any sort of romantic relationship with the mother.
Critics said a women could list her best friend on the birth certificate. The word "Father" may be replaced with the phrase "Second parent".
The second parent who will have to consent to be named, will take on the legal and moral responsibilities of parenthood.
This raises the spectre of a legal minefield in which the female "fathers2 will fight for visiting rights and be chased for child support payments if their fragile relationship with the mother breaks down.
The changes, are due to come in on April 6th will apply to many of the 2000 women a year who have IVF using donor sperm from anonymous donors.
The regulations are part of the contriversial Embryology Bill passed by parliament last year. The Human Fertilsation and Embryology Authority said they will give lesbian couples in civil partnerships who undergo IVF the same rights as a married heterosexual couple.
An unmarried man whose girlfriend has fertility treatment will also find it easier to claim full parenta rights.

The new rules state:
The women receiving treatment with donor sperm (or embryos created with donor sperm) can consent to any man or women being the father or second parent. The examtion is close blood relatives.

Baroness Deech, a former chair of the HFEA, said the practice would lead to the falsification of the birth certificate.
She said "This is putting the rights of the parent above those of the child. It is absurd that anyone can be named as the father or the second parent.