In Vitro Fertilization and the Question of the Born Infant's Relatedness in the View of Jurists and Lawyers

In vitro fertilization is one of the remarkable phenomena in the modern world. Since was issue has not the special concern of earlier jurists, it can cause different jurisprudential (fiqh) and legal problems. Although at the beginning some scholars of jurisprudence were against all kinds of in vitro fertilization and some authorities of imitation considered artificial fertilization (introducing the sperm of the husband into the female animal of his wife) as problematic and precautionary, the notion of recognizing in vitro fertilization and considering the born infants legitimate provoked much dispute, which paved the ground for proposing new views and reconsidering legal decrees.The studies show that although some jurists and scholars are against in vitro fertilization, the evidence which they give to support their claim are theoretically insufficient, and, to them, all kinds of in vitro fertilization lack legal prohibition. The permission of all kinds of in vitro fertilization according to the view of some authorities of imitation, such as Ayatollah Khamenei, seems defendable. Furthermore, Taking into consideration the interests of the infants born by fertilization and recognizing them as legal children can be a great step towards eliminating discrimination against these infants and preventing future problems in Islamic society.