In April 2016, the Svea Court of Appeal confirmed the judgments of the District Court in T 7894-15 & T 7895-15 establishing the paternity of a sperm donor, AF, in relation to two children, SJ & JJ, then aged five and three years respectively. Grounds for the judgments were based on Chapter 1, Section 5 of the Children and Parents Code (SFS1949:381), which enables the Court to establish paternity if, interalia, a genetic test shows that the man in question is the child’s father, unless the sperm used for the pregnancy has been donated in accordance with Chapters 6 or 7 of the Genetic Integrity Act (SFS 2006:351). AF maintained that he had never met the mother of SJ and JJ and that they must have been conceived from sperm he had donated to a Danish Clinic. This factor, however, had no bearing on the Court in relsolving the question of paternity which was determined by applying a literal interpretation of Chapter 1, Section 5 of the Code. Leave to appeal to the Supreme Court was refused.

Surrogacy arrangements have become an increasingly popular way for childless people to build a family. Yet many jurisdictions do not regulate surrogacy. Even in the ab-sence of surrogacy regulation, if a jurisdiction has no specific legal rules that clarify parenthood following surrogacy, the result is often uncertainty in relation to the legal parental status of the surrogate mother, her spouse or cohabitant, any possible donors, and the commissioning parents. This, in turn, leaves the surrogate-born child’s family law status uncertain.   This thesis examines the legal aspects of parenthood and how it is, or could be, determined in Sweden following surrogacy arrangements. Important aims are to estab-lish whether the current national laws regulating family law can sufficiently protect the interests of the surrogate-born child and the parties to surrogacy arrangements, with an emphasis on interests connected to family law status; to examine the ways in which other jurisdictions (England and Wales, and Israel) have responded to similar issues; and to identify problems and propose alternative solutions in relation to the specific issue of establishing legal parenthood following surrogacy at a domestic level, either with or without State regulation of surrogacy agreements.   Consideration is given to whether it might be appropriate to re-evaluate or qualify the existing presumptions of parenthood, in particular the unwritten presumption of maternity. Several alternatives for the transfer of legal parenthood from the surrogate mother, and her spouse or cohabitant as the case may be, to the commissioning parent or parents are also examined. In addition, the ethical implications of surrogacy ar-rangements are explored in order to provide an insight into the way in which subcon-scious or hidden values might make it difficult for a State to regulate certain areas of private life such as parenthood.   The starting point for the thesis is that it is in the best interests of the child to have parents at birth and that this interest must be prioritised over an intended parent’s interest in becoming a parent. This view is based on and is consistent with existing Swedish law and policy.

Barnets rätt att få veta sitt ursprung När lagen (1984:1140) om insemination trädde i kraft den 1:e mars 1985 blev svenska barn som föddes efter givarinsemination de första i världen att ha en lagstadgad rätt att få veta givarens identitet. Ett barn har rätt till information om givaren när barnet har uppnått tillräcklig mognad. Barn som kommit till genom äggdonation har samma rätt att få veta sedan 1 januari 2003 när äggdonation tilläts i Sverige efter ändringar till lagen (1988:711) om befruktning utanför kroppen. Nu regleras både insemination och äggdonation av lagen (2006:351) om genetisk integritet mm.  Statistik som publicerades i december 2009 visar att 201 svenska barn föddes efter behandling 2007 med antingen donerade spermier eller ägg. En förutsättning för att rätten till information om ursprung förverkligas är att barnen vet hur de har kommit till. Det framgår dock från studier i Sverige och andra länder att många föräldrar inte har berättat för deras barn om detta även om fler föräldrar berättar nu än för 10 år sedan.  

All donor offspring conceived under the Swedish Genetic Integrity Act or the now-repealed Act on Insemination, from gametes donated after 1 March 1985, have the right to obtain identifying information about the donor when they are sufficiently mature. Despite this, studies undertaken in Sweden and abroad reveal that many donor offspring will never be able to exercise their right to information because their parents do not tell them how they were conceived. This study examines the regulatory framework established to facilitate access to identifying information for donor offspring in Sweden; the main objective being to determine whether or not the right to information is an effective legal right. In addition to giving an account of the source and scope of the right under Swedish law, Sweden´s possible obligations to donor offspring under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the European Convention on Human Rights are explored. A number of measures that could promote the right to information are also considered.