Progress Educational Trust BioNews | July 21, 2025
Investigating allegations of child abuse, California authorities discovered that a couple running a surrogacy agency in the state had 21 children via surrogates who did not know that the couple were the intended parents. Amid ongoing investigations, the children are in state custody.
Progress Educational Trust BioNews | July 7, 2025
At a recent symposium at the University of Greenwich, researchers discussed the Law Commissions’ 2023 report and its recommendations for surrogacy law reform in the UK. They brought up issues unresolved in the report, including origin information on birth certificates, the implications of a surrogacy register, and the regulation of surrogacy advertising.
Jerusalem Post | July 1, 2025
Israel’s new entry regulation means that infants born abroad via surrogacy cannot enter the country with a foreign passport and instead have to first become naturalized in their country of birth and obtain an Israeli passport. The change has impacted many couples, including LGBTQ families, who remain abroad to complete the lengthy naturalization process for their newborn children.
Debate grows over Australia’s surrogacy laws as more couples look overseas
ABC News | June 27, 2025
Increasingly, Australians are going abroad for surrogacy arrangements, in part because Australia only allows non-compensated surrogacy. The Australian Law Reform Commission is conducting a review of the country’s surrogacy laws, but debate over the ethics of compensated surrogacy continues.
Should commercial surrogacy be allowed in Australia?
ABC News AM | June 26, 2025
Although compensated surrogacy is currently illegal in Australia, an ongoing review of the law could change that. Some advocates argue that allowing surrogates to be paid would make it easier for intended parents to find surrogates in Australia and would avoid the issue of lawyers and clinicians being paid, while the surrogate is not. Opponents of legalization argue it would lead to exploitation of vulnerable women, citing examples of recent cases in India and Thailand.
Vientiane Times | June 2, 2025
In response to several investigations and arrests related to illegal surrogacy operations, authorities in Laos are warning the public that surrogacy-related human trafficking convictions can carry a prison sentence of up to 19 years.
The New Zealand Herald | May 31, 2025
New Zealand’s ministry for children is raising concerns about New Zealanders travelling to Thailand to have children via surrogacy, where it is illegal, before bringing them home to legally adopt them. New Zealand’s outdated family laws contribute to difficulties addressing these practices.
Progress Educational Trust BioNews | May 19, 2025
Citing other legislative priorities, the UK Government announced that despite its support for surrogacy, it is postponing updates to UK surrogacy law––a project that the Law Commission of England and Wales recommended in a report of proposed reforms published jointly with the Scottish Law Commission in 2023.
Progress Educational Trust | May 19, 2025
Italy’s recently enacted ban of surrogacy arrangements, even in countries where surrogacy is legal, has faced criticism from many LGBTQ+ parents and advocates in Italy. They object to the blanket nature of the ban, which affects all surrogacy arrangements, and they raise concerns about the ban stigmatizing LGBTQ+ families.
COMPAS | May 2, 2025
Intermediaries in Georgia’s surrogacy industry not only facilitate migration of surrogates from other countries in Central Asia to Georgia, but they also serve as the supervisors of surrogates for clinics. They respond to their needs, but they maintain tight control over surrogates’ lives.
Politico | April 30, 2025
Spain will no longer allow its embassies and consulates to register children born via surrogacy in other countries. Previously, the practice of going abroad was used as a loophole to go around Spain’s surrogacy ban.
