ABSTRACT
Implications of assisted-conception techniques include innovations in family formations and the notion of parents and children and wider kinship ties. In the United Kingdom the clinical team is required to consider the welfare of the resulting child, including that child's need of a father, before providing treatment to a woman. A variety of positions within the debate on what to tell children about their origins can be identified. It can be argued that the debate could be settled by reference to international conventions of human rights that declare children's right to establish details of their identity. But in fact the international picture is quite varied, even among signatories to such conventions. In general, however, third-party anonymity has been sustained in most countries. Whether children born through assisted conception will themselves mount a campaign for access to information remains to be seen. Very little is so far known about the impact on children of being conceived through the new reproductive technologies.
