LONDON, December 4, 2002 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Josephine Quintavalle, a veteran pro-life activist in the UK, is challenging the power of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to issue licences permitting in vitro babies to be created and screened for use in stem cell treatments of already-born siblings. The case which began yesterday is expected to be completed tomorrow. The case was prompted by a decision of the HFEA last February which gave a clinic permission to screen embryos created by a couple that wanted to use the umbilical cord blood of a selected embryo after implantation. The purpose was to treat the unborn child’s older sibling for a disorder which could benefit from tissue-matched umbilical cord stem cells. Quintivalle says that the HFEA has “has assumed decision-making responsibilities which are the exclusive domain of parliament and parliament alone.”
However, the HFEA seems to be arguing the case by pointing to the fact that it is already allowing embryo screening for genetic defects and testing for the robustness of embryos.
See the BBC coverage of the challenge: https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2536149.stm