Are Fatherless Children Inconceivable?

Hot on the trail of recent developments in fertility treatments, stem-cell research and changing legislation on the availability of IVF, the Dana Centre hosted an evening about the science and ethics of creating babies without a biological father. Jane Czyzselska, editor of lesbian magazine Diva, quizzed the panel of medical experts and ethicists on their views about fatherless children. Then the audience had their chance to get involved and share their views in small group discussions with the speakers.

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Host Jane Czyzselska questioned whether fatherless babies are an inevitable march of human progress or the stuff of sci-fi movies. She then invited the speakers to give a brief overview of their background and interest in the issue at hand. Jane went on to quiz the speakers on their hopes and concerns about creating fatherless children.

First up was Karim Nayernia, from the Institute of Human Genetics at Newcastle University. Karim spoke about some of the latest developments in creating artificial sperm and estimated how close we are to creating fatherless children.

Josephine Quintavalle, Director of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, gave her opinion on whether we should be trying to create fatherless children. Josephine’s main concerns were the safety risks involved with these artificial processes.

Would making fatherless babies create inferior copies of human beings? Ray Noble from the Institute for Women’s Health at UCL had some ideas. He thought that creating fatherless children had the potential for both biological and social harm.

Finally medical ethicist Anna Smajdor talked about whether the creation of fatherless children would turn our society from a patriarchal into a matriarchal one. She argued that these technologies would not necessarily be beneficial to women.

We caught up with audience member Jenny during the event. With friends going through different options for fertility treatments, she found the evening informative and thought-provoking.

Another audience member - Jonathon -– thought the real question wasn't whether we could create fatherless children, but whether we should.

Ray Noble’s brother Dennis thought it was great to ask the public their opinions on debates like this and stressed that scientific progress should be a democratic process.

After the small group discussion sessions had concluded, the speakers got back together to give a round-up of what they'd talked about with the audience. Ray concluded that if sexual reproduction became obsolete, he would miss it!

Speakers

Karim Nayernia, stem-cell biologist, Newcastle University
Ray Noble, Institute for Women’s Health, University College London
Josephine Quintavalle, Director, Comment on Reproductive Ethics
Anna Smajdor, medical ethicist, Imperial College

Facilitator
Jane Czyzselska, Editor, Diva magazine

Event organised by:
The Science Museum