Early Litigation
In July 1982 the Warnock Committee Inquiry was established. It was to "to consider recent and potential developments in medicine and science related to human fertilisation and embryology; to consider what policies and safeguards should be applied, including consideration of the social, ethical, and legal implications of these developments; and to make recommendations."
The Warnock Report was published on July 18, 1984. The report stated that a regulator was needed due to the 'special status' of embryos.
In 1985 the Interim Licensing Authority was created. It was supposed to regulate work and research regarding human in vitro fertilisation until a permanent government legislation was passed. It remained the only authority until 1990.
The Unborn Children Protection Bill was also created in 1985. It was written by Enoch Powell and prohibited embryonic research. The Health secretary would only allow an embryo to be kept and implanted if it was for the sole purpose of assisting a named woman to bear a child. No other reason was allowed. This bill was not passed. It was reintroduced in 1986, where it again failed to pass.This was repeated again 1989.
The Surrogacy Arrangements Act (1985) was the first law that governed surrogacy arrangements. It criminalized commercial surrogacy arrangements.
In 1987 the framework for human fertilisation and embryology was created. A white paper was published in regards to the recommendations of the Warnock Report.
In 1990 the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 was passed. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, HFEA, officially started work August 1, 1991.
Read more about this topic: Human Fertilisation And Embryology Act 1990
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