London (CNSNews.com) - Amid a storm of controversy, the British parliament next week will consider a number of significant changes to the country's laws affecting human reproduction and bio-technology. The areas covered include abortion and the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos.

On Monday and Tuesday, the House of Commons is set to debate the most contentious aspects of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill, with four three-hour debates planned over the two days.

In its current form, the legislation would allow researchers to create hybrid embryos by inserting human DNA into animal eggs that have had their own DNA removed.

Many scientists say these embryos, which would not be allowed to live beyond 14 days, would help relieve the shortage of donated human eggs. Researchers want the embryos for their embryonic stem cells, which may someday be used to treat diseases.

Religious leaders have called the plan "monstrous."

Lawmakers will vote on which of four different types of hybrid embryos scientists would be permitted to produce, and also on an amendment that would ban them altogether.

Another controversial area of the bill would remove the legal need for a father in the case of babies conceived through in-vitro fertilization.

Currently, fertility clinics must consider the presence of a father for any potential baby before allowing IVF treatment but the bill would change this to merely a need for "supportive parenting." The government argues that the existing requirement discriminates against lesbian couples who want to raise a family.

In another section which is expected to face challenges, the legislation legalizes the creation of so-called "savior siblings" - babies that develop from embryos specifically genetically selected to act as blood or tissue donors to older brothers and sisters suffering from diseases such as leukemia.

During the final debate, scheduled for Tuesday night, legislators will also consider lowering the current legal limit for most abortions, currently at 24 weeks' gestation.

Although abortion was not part of the original draft of the bill, forces on both sides of the issue have seized the opportunity to revisit an area of law which has not changed since 1990.

Lawmakers will vote on amendments lowering the limit to reportedly as low as 13 weeks, as well as on one mandating a five-day "cooling off" period between the time an abortion is approved and when it takes place.

Pro-life organizations argue that a small but growing minority of premature infants born before 24 weeks are surviving now due to advanced neonatal care.

Abortion-rights activists dispute this, saying that studies have shown that babies born before 24 weeks are no more viable now than they were a decade ago.

Abigail Fitzgibbon, a spokeswoman for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, a major abortion provider, said arguments over neonatal care put forward by pro-life groups are simply an excuse to ban abortions.

"What will happen if the limit goes below 24 weeks [is that] the time will be no longer connected to viability and will become a complete random number," she said.

As in traditional in such matters, leaders from all three major parties will allow their members to vote their conscience in the various votes next week, rather than along party lines.

However, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has angered some members of his Labor Party by ordering them to support the bill as a whole when it comes up for a final vote next month.

This week, the government also defeated a vote to lengthen the amount of time given over to debating the bill, which one recent opinion poll indicates that the public wants.

Andrew Fergusson, a spokesman for the Christian Medical Fellowship, said pro-life forces "had everything to play for" next week. At the same time, he was concerned that there might be a repeat of what happened when earlier legislation dealing with human reproduction was passed in 1990.

In that case, the bill was passed during a late-night session when bleary-eyed lawmakers, he said, hardly knew what they were voting for - including a measure allowing the abortion of deformed babies right up to the point of delivery.

Parliament should have set aside more than a mere three hours worth of debate next week on the abortion issue, Fergusson said.

"This is not the way to do business."

See Earlier Story:
UK Gov't Signals Partial Compromise on Controversial Embryo Bill (Mar. 26, 2008)

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