When there are issues relating to the husband being impotent or carrying genetic disorders, the couple may resort to artificial insemination(AI) to get a child. When the sperm from husband is used it is called artificial insemination homologous(AIH) while in case of donor it is called artificial insemination donor (AID) or heterologous artificial insemination. In case of a donor, the donor must be under the age of 40 years, unknown to both the wife and husband and similar should not know the wife and the husband. he should have children of his own and should be biologically and genetically satisfactory. Before the physician undertakes to inseminate a woman, it should be established that there is no bar to a woman conceiving, that her husband is sterile or there is risk of his passing on hereditary diseases to the child if he fathers a child. The court should not deny the legitimacy when consent to the technique of artificial insemination was expressed or implied by the consent of the husband. There is no bar to either single, divorced women or lesbian couples for being given AID, however, in these cases the child would be deemed to illegitimate.
Legal implications
(1) where the husband is impotent, use of AIH does not amount to consummation of marriage.
(2) as a single donor can father a large number of children, there can be consanguineous marriages in the future.
(3) AID does not amount to adultery as there is no intercourse between the wife and the donor.
(4) there should not be any segregation of XX/XY chromosomes for AI.
Legal implications
(1) where the husband is impotent, use of AIH does not amount to consummation of marriage.
(2) as a single donor can father a large number of children, there can be consanguineous marriages in the future.
(3) AID does not amount to adultery as there is no intercourse between the wife and the donor.
(4) there should not be any segregation of XX/XY chromosomes for AI.
