Establishing paternity by court judgment following sperm donation : Some reflections on two judgments rendered by the Svea Court of Appeal

In April 2016, the Svea Court of Appeal confirmed the judgments of the District Court in T 7894-15 & T 7895-15 establishing the paternity of a sperm donor, AF, in relation to two children, SJ & JJ, then aged five and three years respectively. Grounds for the judgments were based on Chapter 1, Section 5 of the Children and Parents Code (SFS1949:381), which enables the Court to establish paternity if, interalia, a genetic test shows that the man in question is the child’s father, unless the sperm used for the pregnancy has been donated in accordance with Chapters 6 or 7 of the Genetic Integrity Act (SFS 2006:351). AF maintained that he had never met the mother of SJ and JJ and that they must have been conceived from sperm he had donated to a Danish Clinic. This factor, however, had no bearing on the Court in relsolving the question of paternity which was determined by applying a literal interpretation of Chapter 1, Section 5 of the Code. Leave to appeal to the Supreme Court was refused