The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 and non-traditional families

There is now a broad consensus that reform of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, as amended, has become necessary. Our focus in this legislation article is not on whether the Act needs to be reformed, but on the narrower question of whether the regulation of fertility treatment in the UK does enough to protect the interests of non-traditional families. The 2008 reforms to the original 1990 Act took some important steps towards inclusivity, for example by deleting the requirement that clinics consider the child's ‘need for a father’ before providing treatment, and enabling two women to be a child's legal parents from birth. Our contention here is that any new legislation should go further in order to recognise and accommodate diverse family forms.