Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T08:29:16.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - The Legacy of the Warnock Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2021

Edward S. Dove
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Niamh Nic Shuibhne
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Get access

Summary

This chapter considers the legacy of the 1984 Warnock Report, and its continued impact on the regulation of assisted conception, embryo research and surrogacy in the UK. On the one hand, it is extraordinary that a regulatory system grounded in recommendations made only six years after the birth of the first ‘test tube baby’ has stood the test of time so well. The HFEA regulatory model – in which an ‘arm’s-length body’ issues licences, backed up by criminal sanctions, and in which primary legislation is supplemented by regularly updated codes of practice – has proved remarkably resilient, and has since been used to regulate other areas of medical practice. On the other hand, there may be disadvantages in trying to regulate a twenty-first-century industry using tools that were designed for a very different age. The chapter looks at two developments that the Warnock Report did not anticipate and hence did not make provision for in its recommendations: the emergence of a lucrative market in fertility services; and the increasing acceptance that fertility treatment should be available to would-be parents who do not conform with the ‘two-parent family, with both father and mother’ model.

Type
Chapter
Information
Law and Legacy in Medical Jurisprudence
Essays in Honour of Graeme Laurie
, pp. 232 - 249
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×