ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION

Abstract

Building on an article in the previous issue, the author attempts to answer in the negative the question of whether a child born from the artificial insemination of its mother with semen of a man other than her husband is legitimate. He pursues this question in order to propose methods for deciding on rights of succession to property and to assess the liability of the responsible physician in relation to six categories of people: the woman inseminated, her husband, the donor if other than the husband, the child produced, others such as next of kin of the woman or her husband, and municipal corporations on which the child might become a charge. Finally, he proposes a legislative course that would address many of the problems alluded to in this article.