Considering the need for a father: the role of clinicians in safeguarding family values in UK fertility treatment

One of the most hotly debated issues in the UK's new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 has been the abolition of the requirement for clinicians to consider a prospective child's ‘need for a father’ before offering treatment. Leading fertility law specialist and solicitor Natalie Gamble reviews the history of the ‘need for a father’ provision and assesses the practical impact of the new legal requirement of clinicians to consider the child's need for ‘supportive parenting’.