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In 2000, a gay man donated sperm to help a friend from medical school conceive one child, and then another.

Now, 16 years later, the mother, a medical doctor, is suing him for child support using a loophole in Ontario law that means known sperm and egg donors can be held liable for child support based on biology alone.

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[np_storybar title=”Three issues with Ontario’s Bill 28, All Families Are Equal Act, highlighted by legal experts” link=”http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&Intranet=&BillID=4176″]

The Liberal members of committee who heard concerns about the proposed act, which is intended to provide greater clarity to parenting laws in Ontario, said the government intends to tweak the bill before it goes for a final vote. Here are three things lawyers said they should consider changing:

1) As written, the bill gives more protection to a man who donates sperm at home than through a clinic if he signs an agreement beforehand with the woman accepting his donation. That means, a man who has intercourse with a woman — after signing an agreement she alone would parent the child — or who donates sperm for her to inseminate herself with at home, could be better legally protected than a man who donates his sperm in a clinic. That’s a loophole lawyers said should be closed. There also are concerns this could, theoretically, allow men to get women to sign documents clearing them of patrimonial duties before, say, a one-night stand.