ADF to European Parliament: UK ‘Three-Parent Embryo’ Legislation Illegal

The so-called “three-parent embryo” legislation that the United Kingdom’s House of Commons passed Feb. 3 likely breaches a European Union directive to which the UK is obligated. That’s the conclusion of a legal memo Alliance Defending Freedom provided Thursday to the European Parliament at the request of several MEPs.

“Politicians should not be allowed to skirt the law just because they want to push through legislation that might otherwise receive appropriate scrutiny,” said ADF Legal Counsel Robert Clarke, who is also a barrister admitted to the Bar of England and Wales. “It’s quite clear that the UK cannot simply bypass its obligations under Article 9 of the European Union’s Clinical Trials Directive, which prohibits the government from legislating anything that alters the human germ line.”

British MPs in the House of Commons voted to pass the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Mitochondrial Donation) Regulations of 2015 with 382 votes for and 128 against. The legislation next goes to the House of Lords for a vote and could come into force as early as October 2015 if passed there.

The UK regulations...