The genetic truth of surrogate parentage

Abstract

Old family laws presume that the husband is the father of any child born to a married couple; a socio-legal fiction. A social and biological father is presumed to be one and the same. The cocoon of legitimacy protects marriage but the child born outside valid marriage is recognised as ‘illegitimate’. Assisted reproduction technologies strengthened reproductive rights but confuse purity of lineage and genetically divorce socio-legal parentage from biological parentage. The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender reproductive rights, surrogacy, gamete donation, delayed pregnancies using cryopreserved embryos, single parentage, virgin mothers (virgin birth), live-in relationship are increasingly recognised under the cover of human dignity but obscure parentage. In contrast to parental rights of reproductive autonomy, equity demands the child’s right to know its biological parentage, recognised under Article 7 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989. DNA profiling may clarify the genetic parentage with virtual certainty but with multiple limitations. DNA forensics ascertains the genetic makeup of a child linking putative parents irrespective of any social relationship between them. The right to know biological linkages gained paramount significance in cases like displacement, adoption, child trafficking and variants of cross-genetic in vitro fertilization including complete surrogacy. The ‘reproductive tourism’ promotes crossing borders and bodies, enabling conception in the countries with extreme religious and legal barriers.