Birth laws advocated

Press, 27 December 1986, Page 1

Birth laws advocated

PA Wellington The Minister of Justice, Mr Palmer, has urged opponents of new birth technologies to support legislation clarifying the legal status of children conceived using donated sperm, eggs, or embryos.

Those who were morally opposed to the techniques developed to help childless couples become parents must accept the fact that they were being used, and that such children deserved the same legal protection as others, he said.

Mr Palmer said such children were now in a legal limbo. In the case of artificial insemination, the legal father was the

sperm donor.

The man the child considered to be its father had no legal rights, and was not even entitled to register the birth. “He cannot, legally, give his consent to the child changing its name, getting married, or to the child’s adoption,” Mr Palmer said.

“If he disputes guardianship or custody with the child’s mother he has no better standing than a total stranger to the child.”

When a donated ovum was used, as in in-vitro fertilisation, there was no clear legal ruling as to who was the child’s mother. It could be either

the donor or the woman who bore, the child. Mr Palmer said there was clearly an urgent need to protect the interest of children born in these circumstances. “Justice and fairness demand that they should have the same security in terms of their parentage as those conceived naturally,” he said.

Under the Child Amendment Bill, introduced in Parliament in August, the effective parents of children conceived using donated sperm, eggs, and embryo would become the legal parents.

The donors would have no legal rights, except when a child had been conceived using artificial insemination without the woman’s partner’s consent, or by a single

woman living alone. The sperm donor would then remain the legal father, but he would have no parental rights or liabilities.

Mr Palmer said he knew some people would oppose the bill because of their opposition to the conception techniques used.

They should reconsider their opposition and accept that the techniques had been developed and perfected, and were being used successfully.

“Whether or not this goes against certain beliefs does not alter the fact that their results — children — had no say in the method of their birth, but they do need the protection of the law as it applies to all children,” Mr Palmer said..