Knowledge of ancestry is vital to self-identity, they claim

Children of sperm donors in British Colombia have launched a class action suit to prevent medical records relating to their birth from being shredded by doctors. They are complaining that the present law is discriminatory: adopted children are able to find out about their biological parents while donor-conceived children cannot. Their case is based on the guarantees of equality and security of the person in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"Our clients seek information that might be said to be of the most basic and fundamental to the human condition," says one of the lawyers handling the case. "Knowing about one’s biological origin and thus their biological parent’s medical history, may be vital to our client’s present and future health… this information may [also] be needed to ensure that they do not inadvertently marry one of their siblings. But perhaps most important, is that knowing about one’s ancestry, one’s very roots, is central to a person’s self-identity." ~ Arvay Finlay barristers, Oct 28

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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