A transgender woman whose child was born using sperm frozen prior to transitioning has been denied legal parenthood by a Japanese court.
The unnamed trans woman had appealed the decision of a lower court in February 2022 that Japan does not recognise same-sex parents, and a child can only have a 'mother' and a 'father', she is not the legal parent of her biological child born after she legally changed gender.
Same-sex marriage is not permitted in Japan, and the High Court in Tokyo upheld the decision lower court's ruling that: 'There is currently nothing in Japanese law to recognise her parental rights'.
The trans woman has two daughters with her female partner, and the couple are the biological parents of both. The elder daughter was born prior to the woman's transition and both partners are recognised as legal parents. However, the younger child was born after the woman's legal gender change.
After the family court refused to recognise the trans parent's rights, the woman appealed this decision, aiming to gain recognition as the 'father' of the younger child – who was born without a legal father.
President Judge Kino Toshikazu ruled that the trans woman can be recognised as 'father' to the elder daughter but cannot be for the daughter born after the gender registry had changed.
The trans woman was granted legal permission to change her gender four years ago under the Act on Special Cases in Handling Gender Status for Persons with Gender Identity Disorder 2004. This law is controversial because it requires people wishing to legally transition to have the testes or ovaries they were born with surgically removed, which is why the woman had frozen her sperm. Japan's Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that this did not violate Japan's constitution.
Sources and References
-
Trans woman who froze sperm before transitioning barred from being own child’s legal parent
-
Japanese court refuses to recognise trans woman as parent of child: reports
-
Japanese transgender woman who froze their sperm when they were a man cannot be recognised as the legal parent of the child they helped produce, Tokyo high court rules
Related Articles
Sperm bank for donors willing to be identified, planned in Tokyo
A sperm bank for donors who agree to disclose their identity is being planned by a fertility clinic in Tokyo, and would be the first of its kind in Japan...
Pregnant lesbian denied hospital care in Japan
An LGBTQ advocacy group in Japan has called on the Government to guarantee care for all pregnant women after a lesbian who obtained IVF abroad was denied routine care...
Man who gave birth still legally a mother
A trans man who gave birth, has been unsuccessful in his latest attempt to be registered as his child's 'father' on the birth certificate.
Re TT and YY: when a 'Father' is a 'Mother'.
The High Court decided that a trans man could not be named as a 'father' on his child's birth certificate because he gave birth. Instead, he had to be named as the 'mother'...
Trans man loses legal challenge to being registered as son's 'mother'
A trans man who became pregnant and gave birth has lost his legal challenge not to be named as the mother on his child's birth certificate...
Film Review: Seahorse - The Dad who Gave Birth
In a world where our sex tells us nothing about our gender - where we can be anyone and be in relationships with anyone — how do we make sense of ourselves?
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.