LAW AND ETHICS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 247, 29 July 1943, Page 4

LAW AND ETHICS.

QUESTION RAISED IN LORDS. ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION. (Rec. 11.35 a.m.) LONDON, July 28. Baron Brabazon, drawing attention in the House of Lords to recent strides in physiology, especially regarding artificial insemination, and the consequences on live stock, also the possibilities in relation to the human race, said that a Russian, Professor Ivanoff, had experimented with inseminating a cow from a bull that had been dead for more than a week. Such developments, he said, must concern! Britain as a great exporter of live stock. Regarding women, Lord Brabazon said he learned that there were 20,000 applications in the United States for artificial insemination, particularly among childless wives. This raised a question of law and ethics. A child produced thus was thought to be illegitimate and only a doctor knew it was illegitimate. “The church will have to consider whether, in having children thus, a woman is guilty of sin or not,” said the Baron. “Is the State to deprive itself of children born in this way? Can there be insemination from a male after he is dead?” Baron Marley said it was time that the term “illegitimate child” was abolished and a gross injustice to an innocent child removed. The Bishop of Chichester (the Rt. Rev. G. A..K. Bell) declared that the relationships between mother and child, if the mother had been artificially inseminated, might he disastrous to family life. The Duke of Norfolk (Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture), said he did not propose to refer to the human side- of the question, which is being closely watched by the Minister of Health, who, if necessary, would consult the Lord Chancellor on the legal problem. Artificial insemination of animals was nothing new. The Arabs started it many hundreds of years ago. Modern methods had provided the means of improving live stock to an extent hitherto impossible. Two large- trial stations had been established at Cambridge and Reading. Regulations regarding cattle were- in an advanced stage of preparation and it. was hoped to lay them before Parliament soon.