Despite the lack of legal recognition for same-sex relationships or marriage in China, lesbian motherhood has emerged as a significant socio-legal issue. In order to fulfill their desire to have children and create a family, some Chinese lesbian couples have adopted a 'shared motherhood model.'
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Palatine Centre
In this model, one partner provides the egg while the other partner becomes pregnant through embryo transfer following artificial insemination with donor sperm. The shared motherhood model intentionally divides the roles of biological mother and gestational mother between lesbian couples, leading to legal controversies surrounding the parenthood of the conceived child, as well as issues related to custody, child support, and visitation rights. Currently, at least two cases involving shared motherhood arrangements have been filed with Chinese courts. However, the courts have been hesitant to make rulings on these cases due to the lack of clear legal solutions provided by Chinese law on these controversial issues. The courts are cautious about making decisions that deviate from the current legal stance of non-recognition of same-sex marriage. This presentation will examine the basis of parenthood under Chinese law and analyse the parentage issues concerning the various types of relationships between lesbians and children born through shared motherhood arrangements.
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Biography of the speaker:
Chunyan Ding is a Professor at the School of Law at the City University of Hong Kong. She obtained an LLB and LLM at Peking University, an LLM at University College London, and PhD at the University of Hong Kong. She became a qualified PRC lawyer in 2001. Before joining CityU in 2010, Ding was a Fulbright research fellow at Harvard Law School, where she conducted research on comparative health law and tort law in 2008-09. Her primary areas of research and teaching include tort law, health law, privacy and data protection, and Chinese and comparative civil law. She has authored Medical Negligence Law in Transitional China (2012) and published over fifty journal articles and book chapters in her research fields. More information is available at <https://www.cityu.edu.hk/stfprofile/chunding.htm>.
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