Simana Shelly
Harvard Law School, 1563 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
J Law Biosci. 2018 Aug 7;5(2):329-354. doi: 10.1093/jlb/lsy017. eCollection 2018 Aug.
Scientific advances enable to retrieve and use gametes of a deceased person, thereby creating a child after the death of a genetic parent. This article reviews and compares legislation governing posthumous reproduction in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Israel. It shows that each country has its own distinctive features, yet three common elements exist-legal ambiguity, a requirement for prior consent, and permission for the partner, but not the parents, to retrieve and use the deceased's gametes. The article demonstrates that courts often do not follow the legal requirements, and thus there are no clear guiding principles regarding posthumous reproduction. The article then discusses three justifications for permitting posthumous reproduction in the absence of the deceased's prior consent. The first justification relates to an interest in 'genetic continuity', which reflects people's desire in leaving a 'piece' of themselves in the world and maintaining a chain of continuity. The second justification concerns the 'respect-for-wishes' model of autonomy, according to which people must be treated in a way that we assume they would want to be treated. The third justification touches upon the interests of the deceased's partner and parents, as well as of the resulting child.
科学进步使得人们能够获取并使用已故者的配子，从而在基因亲本去世后生育子女。本文回顾并比较了美国、英国、澳大利亚和以色列关于死后生殖的立法。结果表明，每个国家都有其独特之处，但存在三个共同要素：法律上的模糊性、事先同意的要求以及允许伴侣（而非父母）获取和使用已故者的配子。本文指出，法院往往不遵循法律要求，因此关于死后生殖没有明确的指导原则。接着，本文讨论了在未得到死者事先同意的情况下允许死后生殖的三个理由。第一个理由涉及“基因延续”的利益，这反映了人们希望在世上留下自己的“一部分”并维持延续链条的愿望。第二个理由涉及自主的“尊重意愿”模式，根据该模式，人们必须以我们假定他们希望被对待的方式来对待。第三个理由涉及死者的伴侣和父母以及由此产生的孩子的利益。
