Requirement to offer counselling
121.Section 14(3) and Schedule 4 to the Act extend the existing requirements under the 1990 Act as to the provision of counselling by fertility clinics. Under section 13(6) of the 1990 Act, it is a requirement of all licences for treatment issued by the HFEA that a woman may not be provided with any treatment services involving donated gametes or embryos, or the use of an embryo which has been created in vitro, unless she and any man with whom she is being treated have been provided with relevant information and offered counselling. The new provision will extend this requirement to same sex couples. In addition, it will ensure that, before proceeding with embryo transfer or DI, clinics are required to offer counselling and provide relevant information to couples who have given notice that they consent to the intended mother’s partner being treated as the parent of a child who is conceived using donor sperm. Where such notices have been given, but if one of the partners subsequently withdraws their consent, clinics will be required to notify the other partner of this.
122.The substituted section 13(6) requires that any woman receiving treatment of certain kinds, and any partner of that woman who is receiving treatment with her, must be given a suitable opportunity to receive counselling and must be provided with relevant information before treatment is provided. The new section 13(6A) requires a suitable offer of counselling to be given and relevant information to be provided before treatment is provided in a case where two people consent to the parenthood of any child that may be born as a result of that treatment.
123.New section 13(6B) applies the new concepts of “agreed fatherhood conditions” and “agreed female parenthood conditions” to subsection (6A) as provided for under sections 35 and 42 of the Act.
124.New section 13(6C) provides that where the treatment services provided involve the use of donated gametes, or embryos taken from a woman not receiving services, the information provided under subsection (6) and (6A) must include such information as is proper about –
the importance of informing any resulting child at an early age that the child was donor conceived; and
suitable methods of informing the child about their conception.
125.The new sections 13(6D) and (6E) provide that where either partner withdraws consent to agreed fatherhood or parenthood, the person responsible (as defined by section 17(1) of the 1990 Act) must notify the other partner. This also applies where the woman being treated withdraws her consent for the other partner to be the parent of any resulting child. Where the male or female partner of the woman receiving treatment withdraws his or her consent, the person responsible must not place any embryo, sperm or eggs in the woman until she has been notified of the withdrawal of consent.
126.Schedule 4 to the Act inserts a new Schedule 3ZA into the 1990 Act. Part 1 specifies treatment involving the use of donated gametes or embryos taken from a woman not receiving services and the use of embryos created in vitro as the kinds of treatment in relation to which clinics must offer counselling in accordance with licence conditions imposed under section 13(6). Part 2 defines the events in connection with which counselling must be offered in accordance with licence conditions imposed under section 13(6A) – that is, the giving of notices of consent to parenthood. These provisions take account of the new provisions about parenthood in Part 2 of the Act.
