Baby's legal status born from artificial insemination

Artificial insemination means inducing pregnancy in a woman through special medical procedures without her having sexual intercourse. In this paper, the legal and religious jurisprudence issues of different aspects of artificial insemination out of uterus with a stranger’s or husband’s sperm are considered within the Islamic jurisprudence. According to the present law, artificial insemination with the husband’s sperm is considered to be a legal act. Consequently, a baby born through this method belongs to the wife and husband and is considered to be completely legitimate. Artificial insemination, in principle, does not possess the nature of a crime or religious prohibition unless an illegal action or a crime is committed through the process. In that case, only that specific action is considered illegal or crime and it has no effect on merit of the act itself. Many jurists have approved of artificial insemination and confirm the legitimacy of the baby. Experts in the legal system do not present any opposing view either.With regard to the law granting the fetus to a barren couple(1), the fetuses resulting from insemination out of uterus of legal couples, can be transferred to the uterus of a woman whose barrenness after marriage is verified through medical examination. But in the case of using stranger sperm, the legislator is silent. Therefore, by virtue of article 167 of constitutional law, it must be referred to valid religious injunction and the jurists’ judgment. Given that in the article 167 of civil code, considers adultery as the only case of exception, and given the principles of generalization and narrow interpretation, one can conclude that the cases of artificial insemination with donor’s sperms (AID) may not be considered a case of exception, and therefore, a baby’s desent from AID need to be considered legal.