Medical Figh

Abstract

Although passing the Method of Embryo Donation to Sterile Spouses Act in 2003 was a positive step toward regularizing one of assisted reproduction methods, but it may be criticized due to some vagueness in its content, lack of sanction, and referring many essential issues to bylaw.  One of the most important problems of this Act is that it does not clarity parentage and the legal effects of embryo donation causing confusion in the financial and non financial rights of the child. There are a lot of disagreements in jurisprudence and Law on this issue and each offers defendable principles to prove its case. Some consider the sperm donor, and some others consider the legal father as the real father of the child. Still others believe that these children are fatherless. Based on the result of the discussion, regarding the philosophy of enacting laws, intention of donors and recipients of embryos, and most importantly considering the best interest of the child which has been greatly emphasized in Islam, and also stated in the international conventions, the Iranian legislator should consider the recipients of the embryo as the legal parents of the child noting a kind of abstractive and presumed parentage.

Keywords

Embryo donation, paternal parentage, legal husband, sperm donor