Public slam Government plan to downgrade fathers – new poll
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The British public has firmly rejected plans by Ministers to downgrade the importance of fathers in new laws to be debated in Parliament tomorrow.
By a majority of four to one, people believe the Government is wrong to let IVF clinics scrap the rule that they must take into account a child’s need for a father when approving bids for fertility treatment.
According to a poll conducted by ComRes for Christian Action, Research and Education (CARE), the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Bill has provoked widespread disquiet among the public.
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The survey found that 77 per cent of people believe that it is very important or important that IVF providers consider a child’s need for a father when processing applications.
This figure rises to 80 per cent among women and opposition to the Government’s controversial move is greatest among the young with 84 per cent of 18-24-year-olds rejecting the Government’s proposals.
Only 10 per cent of people think it is fair that the planned changes will effectively make it illegal for some children to have a legal father (if they are conceived by IVF for aspirant lesbian couples) from conception for the duration of their childhood. This figure falls to 8 per cent for women and, very revealingly, to just 7 per cent for the youngest category polled, 18-24-year-olds.
The new law is expected to be condemned today (Monday) in the House of Lords when peers debate it for the first time.
Pro-family campaigners are warning that Ministers are sending all the wrong messages by downgrading fatherhood at the very moment that a mounting body of research demonstrates its importance to the emotional health of children and their academic and social development.
Nola Leach chief executive of CARE, said: “All the research shows that children, especially boys, are far more likely to do well at school, steer clear of crime and build careers and successful families of their own if they have a father playing an active part in their lives.”
Daniel Boucher, director of parliamentary affairs for CARE added, “The last thing we should be doing now is officially encouraging fatherlessness. A generation of children is being betrayed.”
The ComRes poll found that 83 per cent of people believe that the absence of a father damages children in areas such as their behaviour, their attitude towards other people, their mood and emotions and their academic progress.
The public was also concerned that politicians are putting the rights of adults before those of children in framing the new law. Twice as many people (34 per cent) thought adults were being given priority as those (18 per cent) who thought children were being favoured.
Nearly 50 MPs from all parties have put down a Commons motion condemning the Bill.
The poll findings for CARE mirror the results of the Government’s official consultation on the Bill.
This found that of 505 published responses to the Department of Health’s Bill, only 103 supported it.
The Early Day Motion, signed by 45 MPs and sponsored by the Labour MP Geraldine Smith, says:
“That this House notes with great concern that the Government has proposed in the draft Human Tissue and Embryos Bill removing the requirement that those providing IVF services must have regard for the need of any resulting child for a father in subsection 2(b) and also facilitating the deliberate bringing of children into the world for whom no man can legally be considered to be their father in Clause 51(1)”
The MPs express “concern that, given the wealth of research demonstrating the very important and distinctive contribution fathers bring to parenting, these proposals are profoundly misinformed and clearly undermine the best interests of the child”.
They add that “this move is inconsistent with the recent statement made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions that `we want to significantly reduce the numbers of children with no dad on their birth certificate', and prioritises the desires of adults over the rights of children in the area of assisted reproduction”.
Finally the MPs call on the Government to ensure that the Bill preserves the father’s provision in the 1990 Act and does not propose denying any child from birth a legal father who is male.
For further information please contact Dr Dan Boucher,
Director of Parliamentary Affairs, CARE
53 Romney Street, London SW1P 3RF
t: 020 72274738
f: 020 72330983
m: 07768165543
w: www.care.org.uk
ComRes Poll Methodology
ComRes interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1010 GB adults by telephone between 9th and 11th November 2007. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults.
ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.
The full tables will be published tomorrow (Monday) morning at 9 am: www.comres.co.uk
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