Parenthood: Uncharted territory?

It may have taken millions of years for humans to evolve, but when it comes to attitudes, evolution can be rapid.

For example, in 1984, when the Warnock Committee considered human fertilisation and embryology, it believed that ‘it is better for children to be born into a two-parent family, with both father and mother’ (Department of Health and Social Security, 1984: 11). By 2002, Baroness Warnock was clear that ‘there can be no law based on the good of the child principle to prohibit homosexuals from making arrangements to have children’ (Warnock, 2002: 69). In April 2018, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson said that ‘she and her partner Jen Wilson were … expecting their first child in October after undergoing IVF’, with Ms Davidson hoping that ‘her announcement could help to underline that it is normal for same-sex couples to have children’ (BBC News, 2018).