Legal Developments in Assisted Reproduction

Abstract

Courts have been quite consistent in allowing ex-partners in marriages or similar relationships, usually men, to veto the other partner's reproductive use of jointly-created IVF embryos. This supports the principle of voluntary parenthood. In contrast, child custody disputes following surrogate motherhood may favor the commissioning couple or the surrogate. Decisive are the best interests of the child, which a court may find favorable to the former or the latter, or custody shared between them. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) may be restricted by governmental licensing regulations, and raises concerns about diagnosis showing noninheritance of a feared disorder, but not other conditions harming a subsequently born child. Travel abroad raises concerns of legality. Some countries explicitly allow nationals to go to other countries for services legally barred in their own, but others would bind nationals by their prohibitive laws if they were to receive, or counsel, services abroad that are lawful where delivered.

Keywords: embryo transfer, surrogate motherhood, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, foreign assisted reproduction, consent to embryo transfer, child custody following surrogacy, counseling services abroad

JEL Classification: K10, J13, I18