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The legal pitfalls for DIY donors
03.12.07
Andy Bathie has fallen victim to the legal pitfalls of being a DIY sperm donor.
Had he and the lesbian couple involved gone through the proper authorities then, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, he would have been accorded the full protection of current fertility laws.
Men who give sperm through HFEA-licensed clinics have no legal obligation to a child created through the donation process.
They do not have the right to determine how the child is brought up nor the right to be named on the birth certificate.
They also have no financial obligation to pay child support. Donors were guaranteed the right to remain anonymous throughout the child's lifetime but in 2005 the law changed, allowing children once they turned 18 to write to the HFEA and be told the identity of their real father.
The donor still has no legal financial obligation even after his identity becomes known.
Ministers are now drawing up reforms to the law which will give both women in a lesbian relationship parental rights - not just the mother - should they marry in a civil partnership.
