Selecting a disabled embryo can constitute grievous bodily harm

Abstract

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended) in the UK allows parents to select a disabled embryo for implantation as part of fertility treatment services. There was widespread condemnation of a couple in the United States who intentionally conceived two deaf children, and there is evidence to suggest that requests for dwarfism are on the rise. This article suggests that it is an offence against the person to give birth to an intentionally disabled child, and that this is a unique criminal act that can be distinguished from a wrongful life action (rejected in UK law by McKay v Essex Area Health Authority [1982] Q.B. 1166). The components of s.18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 will be explored to prove that should an intentionally disabled child ever come forward, a prosecution may be possible under the criminal law.