Prespriction forms requring father’s name of single mothers concieving through ART is voilative of fundamental right to privacy, liberty and dignity.

The Kerala High Court has held that requiring a single woman who conceived using Assisted Reproductive Technologies, to give the father’s name for the birth and death registration of her children is violative of both her and her children’s dignity.

The Court found that the right of a woman to make reproductive choices is a fundamental right. The petitoner had contended that leaving the field requiring the father’s details blank on the certificate would infringe the right to privacy of the petitioner as well as her child since the fact that the child was born out of wedlock is intimate private information.

Justice Satish Ninan held it a valid ground for the right to privacy, thus directing the respondents to immediately take necessary steps to provide separate forms for registration of births and deaths and for issuance of certificates for children born out of such conceptions.

“The right of a single parent/ unwed mother to conceive by ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies) having been recognized, prescriptions of forms requiring mentioning of the name of the father, the details of which is to be kept anonymous, is violative of their fundamental rights of privacy, liberty, and dignity,” the Bench ruled.