Christian lawyers have responded to the publication of the Government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill with an appeal to Christians to write to House of Lords peers.

The Bill - previously the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill - is to receive its second reading in the House of Lords on Monday 19 December.

The LCF said it was "imperative" that people write to members of the upper House to warn them of the Bill's implications.

The LCF has described the Bill and the philosophy behind it as "disturbing", calling it "nothing less than the deconstruction of the traditional family and a radical change in what it means to be human".

The Bill is a "dangerous experiment which puts the interests of the children affected at risk", the LCF added.

The lawyers' main concerns with the Bill are that it will redefine the family by conferring legal "parenthood" on couples undergoing assisted reproduction, including same-sex coupes or people who have no biological relationship with the child.

This would mean, says the LCF, that parenthood could become a legal fiction which does not match to biological reality.

The LCF also believe that the Bill would mean a redefinition of what it means to be human, by legalising the creation of embryos created by fertilising animal eggs with human sperm and vice versa.

This would be "the most disturbing of a raft of provisions which will further downgrade the dignity of the embryo", the lawyers said.

In addition, LCF argued that the Bill would open up the abortion debate, which could lead to an even greater liberalisation of abortion far beyond what was intended when the procedure was legalised 40 years ago.