Also known as:procreates · procreated · procreating · procreation · reproduction
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
To produce biological offspring through sexual intercourse or assisted reproduction.
Sources & Authorities
How it applies
Common Examples
6
Compulsory Sterilization Statute
Paula Pierce is convicted of a third felony. The state seeks to apply a statute requiring sterilization of repeat offenders. The court holds that the statute violates her fundamental right because the state may not permanently deprive individuals of the ability to produce offspring without violating equal protection and substantive due process.
Surrogate Parentage Determination
Pilar Pena and her partner enter a gestational surrogacy agreement. After the child is born the court applies the Uniform Probate Code to determine that parentage is established under the state parentage act rather than by the surrogate who carried the child.
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Cases
Statutes
Uniform Acts
Model Codes
Restatements
Casebooks
Hornbooks
Course Outlines
Study Supplements
Pierce Patterson and Paige Porter divorce after creating frozen embryos through IVF. No prior agreement exists. The court balances their interests and awards control to the spouse who wishes to avoid procreation because that interest ordinarily prevails absent compelling circumstances.
Sperm Donor Written Agreement
Patrick Phan donates sperm to a recipient couple under Kansas law. No written agreement preserves his parental rights. The court holds that he is not a legal parent because the statute requires a signed writing to establish donor paternity.
Intent-Based Motherhood Ruling
Paul Peterson and his wife hire a gestational surrogate. After birth the surrogate seeks custody. The court determines that the wife who intended to procreate and raise the child is the natural mother under state law.
Johnson v. Calvert851 P.2d 776, cert. denied, 510 U.S. 874, and cert. dismissed sub nom. Baby Boy J. v. Johnson, 510 U.S. 938 (1993)
Fundamental Liberty Interest
Prime Logistics offers health benefits that impose a heavy burden on employees seeking to procreate. Employees challenge the policy. The court recognizes that the right to procreate is part of the liberty protected by the Due Process Clause and subjects the burden to heightened scrutiny.
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey505 U.S. 833, 112 S. Ct. 2791, 120 L. Ed. 2d 674 (1992)
Common questions
Frequently Asked
5
Is the right to procreate limited to natural conception?+
No. The right extends to assisted reproduction methods such as IVF and surrogacy. Courts apply the same fundamental-liberty analysis whether conception occurs through intercourse or medical assistance.
Supporting sources
What happens when progenitors disagree about frozen embryos?+
Courts first enforce any prior written agreement. Absent an agreement the court balances the parties' interests and ordinarily favors the party seeking to avoid procreation.
Supporting sources
Does a sperm donor automatically become a legal parent?+
No. Under statutes modeled on the Uniform Parentage Act a donor is not a parent unless a written agreement expressly preserves donor paternity.
Supporting sources
How does intent affect parentage in surrogacy cases?+
When genetic and gestational motherhood diverge the woman who intended to procreate and raise the child is recognized as the legal mother.
Supporting sources
Can the state condition probation on non-procreation?+
A probation condition barring procreation without state permission is subject to strict scrutiny and is invalid unless narrowly tailored to a compelling interest and reasonable alternatives exist.
Supporting sources
410 U.S. 113 (1973)Constitutional Law
…of the criminal abortionist, no further formal AMA action took place until 1967. In that year, the Committee on Human Reproduction urged the adoption of a stated policy of opposition to induced abortion, except when there is "documented medical evidence" of a threat to the health or life of the mother, or that the…