Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

My Lords, I apologise to the right reverend Prelate for not being present when he started moving his amendment. I do not want to repeat what I said earlier in Committee, but I remind the House that Section 1 of the Children Act says that the welfare of children is paramount. I am well aware that we are discussing something rather less than the rights of children. We are talking about the advice given to would-be parents going through the process. I have experienced in my previous life extremely good care being exhibited by single-sex parents, both male and female. I also care about the situation in which two men who may exclude women from their lives as I do about two women who may exclude men. We need to bear in mind the fact that if we take out the word ““father””, the message that goes out to the public is that fatherhood—and to some extent perhaps motherhood—matters less than I would have thought this Government thought it did.