Hong Kong legal experts praise ruling for lesbian couple given equal parental status in IVF case, calling it step forward for LGBTQ community
- Court of First Instance ruled woman, who provided egg but did not carry baby through reciprocal IVF, to be ‘parent at common law’
- Legal experts say ruling is unprecedented win but practical implications unclear, as they urge changes in the law to ‘catch up with the development of society’
Twin lawyers Jocelyn Tsao Chiao-lin and Evelyn Tsao Chiao-yin, who handled the case, said the practical implications of the move to grant one of the women the status of “parent at common law” were still unclear.
“But I would think that given the court has recognised that the current legislation is discriminatory towards people like this couple, for sure, it will help in advancing other LGBTQ couples’ through their difficulties,” said Jocelyn Tsao, adding the case would serve as a “precedent”.
The lawyers described the ruling as an unprecedented victory for same-sex couples.
The pair at the centre of the Court of First Instance ruling, which was made public last month, were married in South Africa four years ago and underwent reciprocal in vitro fertilisation (RIVF), a medical treatment for lesbian couples that allows one woman to provide an egg while her partner carries the child.
In the case, a woman identified as “R” provided an egg, while her partner, referred to as “B”, carried the baby and gave birth to a boy, named “K”, in Hong Kong in 2021. But only B was identified as the mother on the birth certificate, as the Parent and Child Ordinance defines a mother as the woman who carries and delivers the baby.