The HFE Act (and other legislation) The HFE Act 2008 is divided
into three parts: - amendments to the Human Fertilisation and
Embryology Act 1990 - miscellaneous and general. The main new
elements of the Act are: - ensuring that the creation and use of
all human embryos outside the body - whatever the process used
in their creation - are subject to regulation - a ban on
selecting the sex of offspring for social reasons - requiring
that clinics take account of “the welfare of the child” when
providing fertility treatment, and removing the previous
requirement that they also take account of the child’s “need for
a father” - allowing for the recognition of both partners in a
same-sex relationship as legal parents of children conceived
through the use of donated sperm, eggs or embryos - enabling
people in same sex relationships and unmarried couples to apply
for an order allowing for them to be treated as the parents of a
child born using a surrogate - changing restrictions on the use
of data collected by the HFE