A Northern Ireland woman has failed in her bid to be legally recognised as the second parent of a child conceived by her wife through a private sperm donation.

The Court of Appeal in Belfast ruled that granting a declaration of parentage would go against the statutory scheme and public policy.

Senior judges held that the appellant did not qualify under the routes available in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, which governs assisted parentage for same-sex female couples.

Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan, sitting with Lord Justice Treacy and Mr Justice O’Hara, said the court must respect the legislation despite sympathies for the family.

The couple entered a relationship in 2011 and arranged private sperm donation in 2018, resulting in the birth of a child. They married in 2021 after same-sex marriage was legalised in Northern Ireland.

Under the 2008 Act, a woman in a same-sex couple can automatically become a legal parent if she is married or in a civil partnership at the time of conception, or if conception occurs via a licensed clinic with agreed conditions.

At the time of conception in 2018, same-sex marriage was not available in Northern Ireland. However, the judges noted that the couple could have entered a civil partnership, which would have brought them within the Act’s provisions.

The court heard that the women made a conscious decision not to take that route, based on their principles and beliefs.

Lawyers for the appellant argued that the prohibition on same-sex marriage at the time constituted unlawful discrimination, and that the couple’s inability to access publicly funded IVF was discriminatory on grounds of sexuality.

The appeal was opposed by the Secretary of State for Health and the Stormont Departments of Finance and Health.

But the Lady Chief Justice found that the appellant was not completely prohibited from acquiring legal parenthood. The civil partnership route was open to them, she said, and to grant a declaration outside the statutory scheme would be wrong in law and manifestly contrary to public policy.