Legal Parenthood, Novel Reproductive Practices, and the Disruption of Reproductive Biosex

Abstract

There are reproductive technologies on the horizon that challenge the fundamentals of human reproduction – the need for sperm, eggs, and someone to gestate the pregnancy. We argue that such technologies collectively undermine our conception of reproductive biosex as we know it. In this article, we (re)examine the attribution and determination of legal parenthood in assisted reproduction in light of such developments. The literature on these emerging reproductive technologies and practices has focused on ethical questions around their permissibility, and regulatory questions regarding access to such technologies. Consequently, there has been limited consideration of how these technologies and practices will challenge the framework that determines legal parenthood in assisted reproduction. We argue that the current legal framework is premised on a number of cis‐heteronormative assumptions about the idealised nuclear family and reproductive biosex. We illustrate three conceptual challenges to the law from the shifting nature of human reproduction: (1) the potential for reproductive biosexed roles to be deconstructed; (2) the potential for relatedness to be reimagined; and (3) the possibilities of disembodied reproduction. These challenges illustrate that we must revisit the foundations of the legal framework attributing legal parenthood in assisted reproduction: its purpose, its functions, and its basis.