The UK Court of Appeal is to decide whether Raj and Shahana Hashmi, the British couple who want to use 'tissue typing' to have a child, will be allowed to continue in their attempts to do so. They are attempting to conceive a child who would be a possible cord blood donor for their son Zain, who has the potentially fatal disease beta-thalassaemia.
The procedure was originally given a theoretical green light by the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in December 2001 after a request for the treatment from the Hashmis, who began two IVF treatment cycles, but were unsuccessful. The HFEA's decision was later challenged by pro-life campaigner Josephine Quintavalle, of the pressure group Comment on Reproductive Ethics (CORE). She claimed that the HFEA had acted outside its powers in making the decision.
Last December, the Mr Justice Maurice Kay ruled in the UK's High Court that the HFEA had acted beyond its legal powers in granting IVF clinics licences to carry out tissue-typing to select matched donor embryos. He went on to express his great sympathy for the Hashmis, and gave the HFEA permission to appeal against the ruling, saying that the case raised matters of the utmost importance. Mrs Hashmi was due to undergo her third IVF attempt after Christmas.
The HFEA are launching an appeal this week. The hearing is expected to take two days and a decision should be reached before Easter. Suzi Leather, chair of the authority, said that it would consider taking the case all the way to the House of Lords, adding 'if we lose, it will be a disaster, not just for the Hashmis but for many other families for whom this procedure offers the only hope of avoiding serious or fatal diseases'.
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