Skip Navigation


Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on September 8, 2006
Human Reproduction 2007 22(1):17-25; doi:10.1093/humrep/del361
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF ) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
22/1/17    most recent
del361v1
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Legge, M.
Right arrow Articles by Frank, N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Legge, M.
Right arrow Articles by Frank, N.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

OPINION

A retrospective study of New Zealand case law involving assisted reproduction technology and the social recognition of ‘new’ family

M. Legge1,3, R. Fitzgerald2 and N. Frank2

1 Department of Biochemistry and 2 Department of Anthropology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

3 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand. E-mail: mike.legge{at}stonebow.otago.ac.nz

The New Zealand Human Assisted Reproductive Technology (HART) Act became law in 2004. In this article, we provide a retrospective analysis of New Zealand case law from September 1990 to March 2004, leading up to the creation of the HART Act. We examine the new understandings of parenting (developed through the routine use of ART in New Zealand) which the case law attempted to test. We examine these concepts against the previous understandings of family enshrined in the pre-existing legislation, which formed the basis for judicial rulings in the various cases to which we refer. In conclusion, we provide a brief summary of the 2004 HART legislation and draw comparisons between the old and new legislative and bureaucratic frameworks that define and support New Zealand family structure. We suggest that a change in cultural backdrop is occurring from the traditional western ideology of the nuclear family towards the traditional Maori concept of family formation, which includes a well-accepted traditional practice of guardianship and a more open and extended family structure. This ‘new’ structure reflects the contemporary lived experience of family kinship in western societies as individualized and open to choice.

Key words: case law/family/New Zealand/reproductive technologies


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.