Religion: Breach of Marriage

Science, unconcerned with morals, had posed a practical question: What about test tube conceptions? The Church of England had tried to find a practical answer.

To approach the question, the Archbishop of Canterbury 32 months ago appointed a 13-member commission, headed by the Rt. Rev. John W. C. Wand, Lord Bishop of London, and including two lawyers and six doctors. Last week their conclusions were in: artificial insemination was permissible when the husband was the donor, but not otherwise.

Though artificial conception through extramarital donorship, reported the commission, "would appear to avoid the worst part of adultery—the personal betrayal of the spouse . . . the part of the unknown donor must seem an unlawful intrusion..."

Insemination by donor, the commission decided, is a "breach of the marriage." The bald term adultery was avoided to save the sensibilities of some churchgoing practicers of donor conceptions who might not have suspected that they were doing anything wrong.