AKP moves to ban sperm donors

ISTANBUL

Hürriyet photo

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is looking to ban women from having children through sperm donors abroad, daily Hürriyet reported.
 
Members of the AKP have asked that the new constitution contain guarantees ensuring “a child's right to know his or her father," therefore effectively ending the practice of Turkish women becoming pregnant through sperm donation centers outside of Turkey.
 
The package including several proposals from the ruling party would also lay the groundwork for constitutional interference in abortion on the grounds of the necessity of "the healthy continuation of the human race."
 
"The state will take the necessary precautions for the healthy continuation of the human race and its material and spiritual well-being, as well as for the protection of the children and the youth,” the AKP said in its proposal for a new constitutional article on the "Protection of the Family," which falls under the section on basic rights and freedoms.
 
If the clause is accepted as such, the state will be able to intervene in pregnancy resulting from sperm and egg donors on the grounds that the child has the right to know the identity of his or her father.
 
The clause may also further allow the state to demand the records of the father, calling for imprisonment of anyone attempting to "change or conceal the bloodline of a child."