Parentage.
Submitted by Ian on Sun, 28/02/2010 - 18:47
Consider this scenario.
1. A committed female homosexual couple decide that one of them should have a child using sperm from a known donor.
2. Twins are born, given a hyphenated name and are raised by the women together for six months.
3. Then the couple split up.
4. The donor moves in with the birthing partner and together say that they are the twins' parents.
5. The female couple did not enter into a civil partnership.
Who are the parents? What are the rights of the non-birthing partner in relation to the children?
The Human Fertilisation and
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 Part 2 which came into force on 6th April 2009 applies to fertility treatment consisting of the placing in a woman of embryos or of sperm and eggs. The effect of this legislation on parenthood is that the woman who carries the child is treated as the child's mother. If a couple are unmarried or not in a civil partnership at the time of "the treatment" her partner must have agreed to "female parenthood" conditions to enable her to be treated as the children's second parent. I understand that this must be in writing. Therefore as I see it, it very much depends upon how the children were conceived.
I am a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives and have worked in the law all my working life. I joined Sarginsons 7 years ago and head the Probate team dealing with wills, trusts and administration of estates.
In my example the birthing
In my example the birthing female was artificially inseminated with sperm from a known donor.
I note the requirements under the Act but I believe that there is one more condition before the non birthing partner can be accepted as a parent. The medical treatment must have been carried out in the UK by a provider licensed under the Act. Also the consent you refer to must be in writing.
I posed this question following a recent case in California so that we might see any differences in the way jurisdictions differ.
There it would seem that the issue is resolved based on an assessment of the relationship of the parties as provided by evidence rather than our strict statutory procedures.
You can see the views of the lawyer involved in the actual case here.