Abstract
This chapter analyses the provisions of legislation and court practice in cases regarding posthumous reproduction in Ukraine and foreign countries. Legislators in foreign countries regulate the question of posthumous reproduction in different ways. Countries can be divided into three groups, depending upon the adopted rules on post-mortem reproduction. The first group consists of countries where posthumous reproduction is forbidden: France, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Slovenia; the second group is formed by the countries where posthumous reproduction is allowed: the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Spain, Belgium, Kyrgyz Republic, Portugal, Brazil; the third group combines the countries where posthumous reproduction is not regulated by the law. Such legal vacuum exists in Ukraine, the Russian Federation and other countries. New technical medical possibilities give way to a lot of questions which need to be answered by legal specialists: should the lawmaker allow taking gametes after the death of the donor?; should the donor give consent to taking gametes after his/her death, and if so—what should be the form of such consent?; should the donor be recognized as a legal parent of the child conceived and born post-mortem? Can the child conceived posthumously be a legal heir of the donor? Some of these questions have been analysed in the court practice of New Zealand, the USA, France and other countries, which are listed in the article. There are a number of problems in the legal regulation of posthumous reproduction in Ukraine, namely: regarding the possibility of posthumous donorship of sexual reproduction cells, paternity/maternity of the deceased person and the possibility of children conceived and born post-mortem to inherit the property of the biological mother or father. These problems can be solved by adopting a special law on assisted human reproduction.
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Notes
- 1.
Steinbock (2011), p. 212.
- 2.
Vardanyan (2016), p. 22.
- 3.
Parizer-Krief (2016), p. 92.
- 4.
Parizer-Krief (2016), p. 98.
- 5.
Act for Protection of Embryos of 13th December, 1990. https://bilimakademisi.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/EmbryoProtectionAct.pdf.
- 6.
The Genetic Integrity Act (2006:351) issued on May 18, 2006. http://www.smer.se/news/the-genetic-integrity-act-2006351/.
- 7.
Act No. CLIV of 1997 on health. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/E.C.12.HUN.3-Annex10.pdf.
- 8.
Zupancic et al. (2000).
- 9.
Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Deceased Fathers) Act dated 2003. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/24/introduction.
- 10.
Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008. No. 76 of 2008. https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/in-force/acts/assisted-reproductive-treatment-act-2008/024.
- 11.
Assisted Reproductive Treatment Regulations No. 002 of 2019. https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/search?q=Assisted+Reproductive+Treatment+Act+2008&queryType=title_content&page=1&sort%5B_score%5D=desc&sort%5Btitle_az%5D=asc.
- 12.
Lei No. 32/2006 de 26 de Julho ‘Procriação medicamente assistida’. http://www.fd.unl.pt/docentes_docs/ma/tpb_ma_4022.pdf.
- 13.
Resolucio CFM No 2.121/2015. http://www.portalmedico.org.br/resolucoes/CFM/2015/2121_2015.pdf.
- 14.
Ley 14/2006, de 26 de mayo, sobre técnicas de reproducción humana asistida. https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2006-9292.
- 15.
Pennings (2007), p. 257.
- 16.
Leon et al. (2011), p. 821.
- 17.
Zakon Kyrgyskoi Respubliki ‘O Reproduktivhyh Pravah Grazhdan I Garantiyah Ih Realizatsii’ as of July 4th, 2015 No. 148. http://cbd.minjust.gov.kg/act/view/ru-ru/111191.
- 18.
Report on Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill of July 2019. P. 26. https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/committee/dail/32/joint_committee_on_health/reports/2019/2019-07-10_report-on-pre-legislative-scrutiny-of-the-general-scheme-of-the-assisted-human-reproduction-bill_en.pdf.
- 19.
Ibid.
- 20.
Sabatello (2014), p. 29.
- 21.
Court of Appeal, Civil Division. Judgement in the case Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authorty, ex parte Blood. http://www.globalhealthrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/EWCA-1997-R-v.-Human-Fertilisation-and-Embryology-Authority-ex-parte-Blood.pdf.
- 22.
Exclusive: Diane Blood on family life 20 years later after she won the right to use her dead husband’s sperm. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/family/exclusive-diane-blood-family-life-20-years-won-right-use-dead/.
- 23.
Supreme Court of Queensland Judgment in the matter of Gray. https://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2000/QSC00-390.pdf.
- 24.
Supreme Court of Queensland Judgment in the matter of Simone Baker. https://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2003/QSC03-002.pdf.
- 25.
Supreme Court of Queensland in the matter of an application by Elizabeth Ann Denman. http://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2004/QSC04-070.pdf.
- 26.
Ibid.
- 27.
Pushing the dead into the next reproductive frontier: post mortem gamete retrieval under the uniform anatomical gift act. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19493077/.
- 28.
Israeli Woman’s Eggs Can Be harvested And Frozen After Her Death, Court Rules. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/08/israeli-woman-eggs-harvested-frozen-death_n_921639.html.
- 29.
Steeb (2000), pp. 150–151.
- 30.
Steeb (2000), pp. 152–153.
- 31.
Press Release issued by the Registrar of the ECtHR. Refusal to allow Claude Lanzmann’s widow to export her deceased son’s sperm with a view to artificial insemination: inadmissible. https://nostal.ge/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Decision-Petithory-Lanzmann-v.-France-refusal-to-allow-Claude-Lanzmanns-widow-to-export-her-deceased-sons-sperm.pdf.
- 32.
Nakaz Ministerstva Ohorony Zdoroviya ‘Pro Zatverdzhennya Poryadku Zastosuvannya Dopomizhnyh Reproduktyvnyh Tehnologiy v Ukrayini’ No 787 (2013) https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/z1697-13#Text.
- 33.
Anikina (2013), p. 8
- 34.
Woodward v. Commissioner of Social Security. https://www.casebriefs.com/blog/law/wills-trusts-estates/wills-trusts-estates-keyed-to-dukeminier/intestacy-an-estate-plan-by-default/woodward-v-commissioner-of-social-security/.
- 35.
Steeb (2000), p. 161.
- 36.
Revised Uniform Probate Code dated 2019. https://www.uniformlaws.org/HigherLogic/System/DownloadDocumentFile.ashx?DocumentFileKey=ea6eb709-a22b-87c7-1c42-4336cfeb8148&forceDialog=0.
- 37.
Anikina (2013), p. 8.
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Moskalenko, K. (2022). Posthumous Reproduction: Comparative Review of Legislation and Court Practice. In: Maydanyk, R., den Exter, A., Izarova, I. (eds) Ukrainian Healthcare Law in the Context of European and International Law. European Union and its Neighbours in a Globalized World, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05690-1_10
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