Medically assisted reproduction and the right to know own origins in the human rights framework

The research aims to explore a particular kind of medically assisted reproduction, surrogacy, in connection with the right to know one’s origins in a comparative perspective between the European and the American Human Rights legal systems. The starting point is the European Court of Human Rights’ case law, as the Grand Chamber on 3 November 2011 surprisingly overturned the previous case law on the right to access to specific medically assisted procreation techniques which Austrian law had denied to two married couples. While recognizing a wide margin of appreciation to be afforded to the respondent State, the Grand Chamber for the first time held that there was no violation of the right to respect for private and family life ex art. 8 / ECHR and no prohibited discrimination ex art. 14 in conjunction with art. 8. Leaving from this starting point in order to enter into the legal framework of assisted reproduction – as this case is an important milestone or, more precisely, a «stepping stone» in the development of this area of law – the research will focus on the specific topic of surrogacy in order to verify the basis and the effectiveness of the protection of the right to know own origins for children born by assisted reproductive techniques. A particular emphasis will be placed on the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Right case law, with some references to the most significant European national experiences.