Blood is thicker than water, but is it thicker than ink?

Is a sperm donor agreement valid and enforceable in South African law? Can a sperm donor sue for parental rights and responsibilities in respect of a child that was conceived with his sperm, despite the provisions of a sperm donor agreement? And if so, is the sperm donor’s genetic link with the child legally relevant? In this article in the Stellenbosch Law Review, we answer these questions. It turns out that ink trumps blood – not the ink in the sperm donor agreement, but the ink in the law books.