BETWEEN THE CHILD WISH AND CHILDREN’S RIGHTS IN EUROPEAN GLOBALIZED GAMETE DONATION: FROM DIVERGENT TO CONVERGENT REGULATORY MODELS

Abstract

Technological procreation has profoundly transformed the legal architecture of filiation,shifting the foundation of parenthood from genetic facts to reproductive intentions and contractualconsent. Because family law remains a matter of domestic jurisdiction, divergent national approaches have emerged. This comparative study evaluates North Macedonia, which representsa liberal legislative baseline, alongside Italy, a jurisdiction that initially enforced deep restrictions but subsequently experienced court driven liberalization.Accelerated by transnational gamete banks, cross border reproductive care has exposed deep fractures between diverse national donor anonymity regimes, displacing traditional biological and marital presumptions of parenthood. Consequently, while adult reproductive autonomy has expanded, the legal position of the newborn has become fragmented and precarious. Drawing uponEuropean Court of Human Rights jurisprudence and contemporary bioethical debates, this article argues that technological procreation has produced a structural imbalance between adult reproductive liberty and children’s independent rights to identity and genealogical integrity.Ultimately, this article contends that the law must re center the newborn as a primary bearer of rights rather than a byproduct of market transactions. It proposes a harmonized European regulatory framework featuring a unified donor registry, enforceable donation caps, and a procedural bifurcation between parentage establishment and informational identity proceedings to restore normative coherence.