Scottish Catholic Observer

The UK has become the first country in the world to ratify controversial IVF procedures that will allow the creation of three-parent babies.

The controversial Government bill passed through the final legislative stages in the House of Lords last night after peers rejected an attempt to block the bill by a majority of 232.

Health Minister Lord Howe urged the Lords to pass the amendment to the 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, itself a vehemently opposed piece of legislation before and after it was passed. The amendment permits controversial IVF techniques targeting inherited mitochondrial diseases.

The fertility regulator will now decide how to license the procedure, intended to prevent babies from inheriting genetic diseases, but which opponents say is wide open to abuse.

When the bill passed the House of Commons earlier this month Bishop John Keenan of Paisley roundly condemned it.

“They destroy human life, since in order to construct a disease-free embryo, two healthy ones will have to be destroyed,” he said. “The technique is not a treatment, it does not cure anyone or anything, rather it seeks to remove anyone affected by certain conditions from the human gene pool. Destroying those who have a particular disease and presenting it as a cure or as progress is utterly disingenuous and completely unethical.”