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Is the birth registration system fit for purpose? The rights of donor conceived adults
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MARILYN CRAWSHAW Honorary Fellow Department of Social Policy and Social Work University of YorkJULIE WALLBANK Senior Lecturer School of Law University of Leeds Birth registration is a key route through which the right to know one’s genetic origins a right enshrined in human rights conventions and acknowledged in family law can be protected.
However the separation of legal and biological parentage resulting from donor-assisted conception treatments has compromised such provision. Instead the right of those affected to know the identity or involvement of their biological parents is left to the discretion of their legal parents (who sometimes withhold the information) or to disclosure through accident or otherwise.
This paper outlines a recent case in which a donor-conceived adult was successful in having the man whom she had previously understood to be her biological father removed from her birth certificate on the grounds that this more accurately represents her origins.
It discusses...
Read the full article here.
