The protection of children's rights in the international reproductive market
NB! This program has been canceled due to the storm.
The number of children born through artificial reproduction is increasing worldwide. IVF, artificial insemination, surrogacy and sperm and egg donation offer opportunities to prospective parents. At the same time, these techniques have now become part of a global reproductive market. How can children's rights be protected in this high-tech, international and economic context? Britta van Beers will deliver the 2023 Miek de Langen lecture.
Children's rights also deserve protection in the regulation of the international reproductive market. In her lecture, Van Beers will discuss two current developments: large-scale donation of sperm and eggs, as is currently being promoted by mass sperm donor Jonathan M.; and international surrogacy, which is on the current political agenda due to the recent surrogacy bill.
There is debate about what exactly protection of children's rights means in this context. Firstly, at the time of the reproductive choices there is not yet a born child, but a possible future child. This makes it difficult to determine what is owed to these children.
A second complicating factor is that the reproductive market and 'reproductive tourism' are cross-border phenomena. Internationally operating sperm banks, IVF clinics and surrogacy mediators offer various 'reproductive services and goods' to Dutch prospective parents for a fee, not all of which are in accordance with the principles of the Dutch legal order. This raises the question of how far the responsibility of the Dutch state, Dutch prospective parents and Dutch fertility doctors extends in protecting children's rights in this international setting.
This annual lecture is dedicated to Miek de Langen. She was professor of Youth Law at the University of Amsterdam (1976-1992) and founder of the Children's Legal Center (1985).
About the speakers
Britta van Beers is professor of law, ethics and biotechnology at the Faculty of Law, Department of Legal Theory, of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. As a lawyer and philosopher, she focuses on the legal-philosophical dimensions of the regulation of biomedical developments, such as artificial reproduction and genetic technology.
Iris van Domselaar (moderator) is professor of Legal Philosophy and Legal Ethics, and director and founder of the Amsterdam Center on the Legal Professions and Access to Justice. She studied law and philosophy and did research at the Philosophy Department of Harvard University and Chicago University, among others.