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A
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Bill
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To
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Amend and extend
certain enactments regulating the treatment of women
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undergoing IVF procedures and to extend
the range of information and
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counselling provided by health authorities.
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Be
it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and
with the advice and
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consent of the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal, and Commons, in this present
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Parliament assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:—
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1 Amendments
of Schedule 3 to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act
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1990
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(1) Schedule
3 to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (c. 37)
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(consents to use of gametes or embryos)
shall be amended as follows.
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(2) After
paragraph 4(2) there shall be inserted—
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“(3) Where
consent for the storage of any embryo is withdrawn in
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accordance
with sub-paragraph (1) or varied in accordance with sub-
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paragraph
(6) by the man specified in sub-paragraph (4), the person
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to
whom the relevant licence applies shall, as soon as practicable
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thereafter,
and wherever possible before ceasing to store the embryo,
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undertake
all reasonable steps to inform the woman specified in sub-
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paragraph
(5) that consent has been withdrawn or varied in
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accordance
with sub-paragraph (6).
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(4) The
man specified in this sub-paragraph is the man who—
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(a) has
previously given consent for the creation of an embryo in
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15
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vitro,
and
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(b) was,
at the time of the creation of the embryo, a party to a
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marriage
with the woman specified in sub-paragraph (5).
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(5) The
woman specified in this sub-paragraph is the woman who, at the
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time
of the creation of the embryo—
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(a) was
a party to a marriage with the man specified in sub-
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paragraph
(4), and
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(b) was
intended to receive treatment with the aim of her
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becoming
the mother of a child as a result of the placing in
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her
of the embryo.
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(6) Consent
for the storage of an embryo is varied in accordance with
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this
sub-paragraph if effective consent is withdrawn for the use of
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the
embryo for the treatment of the woman specified in sub-
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paragraph
(5).
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(7) Where
the person to whom the relevant licence applies informs the
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woman
specified in sub-paragraph (5) that consent has been
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withdrawn
or varied in accordance with sub-paragraph (6), he must
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also
give her a suitable opportunity to receive proper counselling
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about
matters consequent upon and relating to the withdrawal or
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variation
of consent.
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(8) Nothing
in sub-paragraphs (3) and (7) shall permit—
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(a) any
use of the embryo after the withdrawal of consent,
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(b) any
use of the embryo otherwise than in accordance with the
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varied
consent, or
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(c) the
storage of the embryo for a period of more than one
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15
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month
after the withdrawal of consent.
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(9) In
this paragraph—
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“a
party to a marriage” shall be construed in accordance with
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section
28, and
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“the
person to whom the relevant licence applies” means—
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(a) the
person responsible for the licence for treatment
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under
which the embryo in vitro was
created, or
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(b) (in
cases where the person specified in paragraph (a)
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no
longer holds a licence for treatment) the person
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responsible
for the licence for storage under which
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the
embryo is stored.
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(10) The
provisions of sub-paragraphs (3) to (9) shall come into effect in
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respect
of any withdrawal of consent or variation of consent in
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accordance
with sub-paragraph (6) after 1 January 2004.”
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2 Short
title
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30
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This Act may be cited as the Human Fertilisation
and Embryology
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Amendment Act 2003.
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