Conception and the Irrelevance of the Welfare Principle

This article challenges the assumption that their future children’s welfare is a relevant consideration when deciding whether to provide a person with assisted conception services. It does not argue that infertility treatment ought to be available as of right. Rather, this article’s proposal is that section 13(5) – which specifies that no‐one shall receive assistance with conception unless account has first been taken of the welfare of any child who might be born – should be deleted from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. Extending the ‘welfare principle’ to decisions taken prior to a child’s conception is shown to be unjust, meaningless and inconsistent with existing legal principle.