死後生殖に関して国内外の判例・事例における倫理問題の考察

抄録

This research is intended to consider ethical problems posed by the legal precedents established in cases concerning posthumous reproduction in Japan, Britain, and America. In Matsuyama, Japan, a woman gave birth through artificial insemination using the frozen sperm of her deceased husband. The undisputed facts in this case are as follows: The biological father, who was undergoing treatment for leukemia, clinically donated a sample of semen in 1998 to be preserved for artificial insemination, since said treatment had the potential of rendering him sterile. After his death in 1999, his wife gave birth to a child in 2001. The child was conceived through in vitro fertilization embryo transfer using the husband's preserved semen. The Matsuyama District Court ruled in November 2003 against recognizing the legal relationship between the deceased father and the child born from posthumous reproduction. The wife appealed this ruling. In July 2004, the Takamatsu High Court subsequently ruled in favor of recognizing the legal relationship between the deceased father and his child. I examined six cases similar to the case in Matsuyama involving posthumous reproduction. There were four such cases in Japan, one in the United States, and one in Britain. In the case in Matsuyama, Japan, relatives of the deceased husband testified in court that the wife in question intended to bear child through posthumous reproduction. In one case in Japan, a wife seeking posthumous reproduction told her doctor that she wanted to artificially inseminate her husband's mother as well. This is did not involve the cases in Britain and the United States. In Japan, the family's consent is required for the organ transplants. I believe that there is a family characteristic peculiar to the Japanese with regard to posthumous reproduction.