A High Court judge last week granted permission for a judicial review of a clinic's decision not to release records of sperm donors to their 'children'. Joanna Rose, a 29 year-old woman from Brisbane, Australia, and the parents of a five year-old British boy born from donor insemination, were brought together and supported by the civil rights charity, Liberty. They want the right to be given non-identifying information about their biological fathers, including blood type, medical history, social and academic background, personal interests and occupation, and say that not being allowed that information is a violation of their human rights under European law.
Ms Rose's lawyer, Monica Carss-Frisk QC, insisted that the idea was not for the genetic fathers to be identified, but that 'we are talking about documents that are really fundamentally important to the personal identities of the claimants. Everyone should be able to establish details of their identity as human beings'.
Mr Justice Scott Baker gave permission for the parties to bring proceedings next year, and also gave them the right to seek to have a voluntary donor register established in which information about donors would be held and could help children to discover the identity of their biological fathers. The judge did say, however, that he had 'considerable reservations' about the case, especially as it seems purely academic given that the records of Ms Rose's biological father have been destroyed.
Some clinics and charities have criticised the ruling, saying that it might discourage men from donating their sperm, or might cause men who have done so in the past to panic. The application to the court was opposed by the Department of Health and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority,as it was argued that the review might undermine a consultation process which is currently taking place.
Sources and References
-
Children may get the right to trace sperm donors
-
Aussie woman wins first round to find sperm donor
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.