Three-parent babies – what parental rights?

Many people may be thinking over the consequences of the House of Commons’ decision this week about IVF.  Approval has been given to extend IVF procedures to the creation of embryos using not just a father’s sperm and a mother’s egg but DNA from the cells of a second female.   The reason is to avoid genetic problems in children which are only passed on through the mother (in the mitochondria in her cells).  The donor DNA would replace the faulty DNA in the egg used to create the embryo.

From the legal perspective – would the second female be a second mother?  The clear answer is – no. The regulations that will apply do not give any “parental rights” to the third person, who will contribute only a small proportion of her DNA, 37 genes out of the total 22,000.  The donor will be anonymous, her identity not being revealed to the child, and the donor and child will not be regarded as related.