Discrepancies between UK and Spanish IVF law

 

The London Evening Standard recently ran an article which brought to light the need for standardising the regulations covering fertility treatment internationally.

In one such case a London woman has been told that her son, who was conceived in 2005 by IVF using donated sperm and eggs, will not be able to trace his biological father.

The mother and the sperm donor were both British citizens, and the sperm donation was arranged by the Woman's Clinic in the UK, but the actual conception took place at a clinic in Spain, as the London clinic did not have any suitable donor eggs. In the UK, children conceived with donated sperm can find out their biological father's name once they reach the age of 18, but the same right does not apply in Spain, where the legalities of this case lay.