A woman in Ireland, Ranae Von Meding, and her wife face legal challenges regarding parental recognition of their one-year-old son, born via reciprocal IVF using donor sperm abroad. Due to Irish laws, only Ms. Von Meding is legally recognized as the parent on the birth certificate, leaving her son in a legal limbo despite being raised by both mothers. This situation restricts the non-registered parent from making critical decisions like medical care or school enrollment. Although legislation in 2020 allowed some same-sex couples to be registered as parents, it excluded children conceived through international donor procedures, affecting families like theirs.

The recently signed Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024, intended to address these issues, has yet to come into force and still excludes same-sex female couples who use overseas clinics. The government is drafting an amending Bill to ensure equal parental recognition regardless of family type, but delays persist, causing frustration among lawmakers and affected families. Many same-sex couples continue to seek fertility treatments abroad due to limited domestic options and exclusion from free public services, prolonging the uncertainty around legal parentage for children conceived internationally.