The Family Law Implications and Consequences of For Women Scotland

The Supreme Court decision in For Women Scotland v the Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16 had significant consequences for trans people within equality and non-discrimination law. However, it is highly likley that the judgment’s reasoning will effect the position of trans people more widely, across a range of legal contexts that were not considered by the Supreme Court. To that end, this article considers two areas of family law, which the article argues will be effected by the reasoning of For Women Scotland. First, whether it is lawful for trans men with Gender Recognition Certificates (GRCs) to access fertility treatment in order to become pregnant under the framework provided by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. Second, the determination and conferral of legal parenthood for trans people who conceive through assited reproduction in circumstances where the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008’s ‘parenthood provisions’ apply. This article argues that the For Women Scotland decision, and the reasoning of the Supreme Court judgment, has both substantive consequences and symbolic implications for these two specific contexts within family law.