Handout 4: The Analogy with Adoption

In R v Ethical Committee of St Mary’s Hospital (Manchester), (1988), an applicant was removed from the IVF waiting list when it was discovered that she had a criminal record involving prostitution offences and a ‘poor understanding’ of fostering. St Mary’s said couples wanting IVF:

… must in the ordinary course of events, satisfy the general criteria established by adoption societies in assessing suitability for adoption … and there must be no medical, psychiatric or psychosexual problems which would indicate an increased probability of a couple not being able to provide satisfactory parenting to the offspring or endanger the mother’s health or life if she became pregnant

(see Kennedy I and Grubb A Medical Law 3rd edition 2000. London: Butterworths, p.1272-1273).

Do you agree?

For further information on Termination of Pregnancy:

• the UK Clinical Ethics Network web site has a detailed discussion around these issues.
• Hope T, Savulescu J, and Hendrick J - Medical Ethics and Law : the Core Curriculum. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, Elsevier Science, 2003. The main text book used for the University of Oxford Medical Ethics and Law course provides more details for both teachers and their students.
• Hope T - Medical Ethics; a Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Ashcroft A, Lucassen A, Parker M, Verkerk M, and Widdershoven G - Case Analysis in Clinical Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.