On 17 January 2014, the Austrian Constitutional Court concluded that lesbian couples should be entitled to sperm donation, just like a heterosexual couple. ” ‘protection of the family unit’ is not an adequate argument to refuse them” specified the Court.
Currently, in Austria, legislation “allows heterosexual couples who are married, have signed a contract or are cohabiting to have access to third party sperm donation provided that evidence is presented to confirm that medical assistance is required for procreation“.
According to the President of the Constitutional Court, Gerhart Holzinger, “there are no ‘particularly convincing or serious’ reasons to justify maintaining such discrimination“.
Lemonde.fr (Joëlle Stolz) 18/01/2014
