Does legal fatherhood matter?

Last week, a British MP, Desmond Swayne, intervened to stop a bill going through parliament that would allow posthumous fathers to be legal fathers. The Deceased fathers bill, designed to amend the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Act, applies to men who have given consent for their partner to use their sperm to have a child after they have died. But Mr Swayne, for reasons which remain unclear, got to his feet during the final minute of the parliamentary debate to talk the bill out of time.

Mr Swayne is not a known supporter of assisted conception. It's possible that his intervention was a symbolic swipe at the whole field and a childish attempt to cause trouble. Whatever his motives, Swayne has met the wrath of Diane Blood, a British woman who conceived her son, Liam, after the death of her husband, Stephen.

Although Diane Blood has been the driving force behind the Deceased fathers bill, her case is not typical of women who've conceived their partner's child after his death. Mrs Blood got pregnant using sperm taken from her husband with out his written consent - a legal requirement under the HFE Act. The other 30 or so women who have conceived after the death of their partners did so with their written consent.

It seems rather silly that children whose biological fathers wanted them to be born are unable to have those fathers named on their birth certificates. They have biological fathers, but not legal fathers. The couples concerned embarked upon parenthood knowingly and with intent. It appears unfair that that intent cannot be recognised by the law.

Some women in this position feel strongly that a change in the law would have real symbolic meaning. They feel that the biological father of their child should also be the legal father. Other women in the same position might not feel so strongly. But whatever happens with the Deceased fathers bill - as sensible as it is - one thing is clear. Of all forms of paternity, legal fatherhood is probably the least important. Children conceived after the death of their fathers still have fathers - in photographs and in the memories of those left behind. That is more important than a piece of paper.