(De)politicisation and the Father's Clause parliamentary debates

The concepts of politicisation and depoliticisation are used within this chapter to provide a lens through which to analyse the social and political consequences of the development of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) and, specifically, the introduction of the Father's Clause (henceforth the Clause) and its subsequent removal in the 1990 and 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Acts passed in the UK Parliament. The Clause referred to the ‘child's need for a father’ when considering whether to provide women with in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and acted as a lightning rod for broader ideological clashes over the family, sexuality, children's welfare and parenthood.

Despite the legislation being a formal governmental politicisation (in that ARTs are taken as a specific field of state intervention), we argue that the Clause's insertion and related debates were depoliticising in that they maintained discursive sedimentation and the restriction of agency and deliberation. Yet, the Clause's removal is not a simple case of correction because depoliticising remainders exist within what can be seen as a formal repoliticising move. Its removal is partially politicising because it formally opens access, destabilises certain norms and recognises a plurality of family forms. Yet, the potential for legislation in this area to repoliticise particular social relations is tempered by depoliticising processes which reduce the capacity for deliberation, contestation and, thus, place limitations upon human agency and collective choice. This is highlighted by the presence of pervasive gender essentialisms within the debates, and depoliticising assumptions concerning pro-natalism, kinship, access and control within the legislation which perpetuate the constitution of stable subject positions and place limits on reproductive choice.

In making this argument, the chapter makes three main contributions to the (de)politicisation and governance literatures. First, it offers a completely fresh empirical terrain through which to explore (de)politicisation and demonstrate how the concepts can be employed usefully beyond economic and monetary policy. Second, the chapter offers a deeper and historically situated analysis of (de)politicising tendencies and the interplay of sociopolitical developments, sensitivities and practices on discourses, processes and outcomes in different political realms. A focus on public policy construction within the governmental arena can help us to reveal broader (de)politicising processes that emerge from social relations, technological developments and expectations related to human reproduction and that impact upon formal political outcomes.