Children’s Intimate as a Result of Artificial Inseminations from the Perspective of Shiite Jurisprudence and Iran's Statute Law

Abstract

Due to achievements in genetics and the possibility of the establishment and natural development of the fetus outside the uterus jurists and lawyers, while giving opinions concerning the permission and respect of this practice discuss issues such as parentage, inheritance, intimacy, marriage and other issues relating these children. This article aims at examining the issue of intimacy and the marriage of laboratory children (created through artificial insemination) with respect to its juridical and legal aspects. There are two types of artificial insemination homogeneous and heterogeneous. In the first type the couple’s gametes are used and in the second type a foreign factor is involved. In both types, the sperm donor is the real father. As for the mother, some jurists consider birth to be the criterion for parentage, some consider the ovum and the third group include both factors. Upon reviewing various opinions the authors have come to the conclusion that the owners of sperm and ovum are the true parents of the child and the surrogate mother's womb is considered to be that of the foster mother’s. As a result, it can be said that the children of artificial inseminations are intimate (by way of a blood relationship) with these people and their spouses, so marriage between them is prohibited.

Keywords

• laboratory child
• fetus
• sperm
• ovum
• parentage
• intimate
• marriage