Spanish government okays embryo selection in lifesaving cases

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2005

MADRID (AFP) — Spain's Socialist government announced it has adopted a bill on assisted reproduction that allows embryo selection in exceptional cases where the life of a sick child is at stake.

The proposed legislation would allow "those with sterility problems to have children" while at the same time forbidding human cloning and surrogate motherhood.

Assisted reproduction will only be allowed "when there is a reasonable chance of success and there is no risk to the health of the mother or potential children," according to a statement issued following a weekly cabinet meeting.

The law would enable the parents of a child suffering from an incurable disease to conceive another child with the express aim of its genes being harvested to save a sibling.

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