Tag: surrogacy regulations

Surrogacy Law Change: The UK Needs to Look Across The Pond

Zaina Mahmoud | BioNews | June 28, 2021

Current law in the UK automatically assigns legal motherhood to the surrogate based on gestation. To transfer legal parenthood to the intended parents, at least one parent must be a UK resident and genetically related to the baby. This commentary proposes that future UK surrogacy law reforms follow the legislation in Colorado, USA, which regulates both genetic and gestational surrogacy, requires medical screening of all parties, and recognizes non-traditional family forms.

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How Many is Too Many in Surrogacy? Who is Thinking About the Children?

Dr. Marilyn Crawshaw and Professor Olga van den Akker | BioNews | June 14, 2021

Without international law to protect surrogacy-born children, an affluent few have grown their families through surrogacy for alarming reasons–the Ozturks have 20 babies to execute their dream of a large family, and a single man in Thailand currently has 13 babies out of a “hoped-for” 1000 in order to aid his possible future political election. The article claims that most of these children will not develop attachment to any main caregiver or be able to satisfy their need to know their gestational origins. More safeguarding, parental preparation, and ongoing support needs to be available to meet the psychological, social, and emotional needs of surrogacy-born children. It may be valuable to transfer some practices learned from adoption practices to surrogacy arrangements.

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Travel Exemptions Granted For IVF Tourism and Surrogacy

Caitlin Fitzsimmons | The Sydney Morning Herald | June 13, 2021

A surrogacy education charity is helping Australian citizens obtain COVID travel exemptions from the government to go abroad for IVF treatment or surrogacy arrangements not available under federal or state law. All but one state in Australia forbid commercial surrogacy and all require egg donation be altruistic, so eggs are not available and intended parents are traveling outside the country for fertility treatments. Proponents of the Australian surrogacy legislation express shock that such a charity would help citizens circumvent a law meant to protect women from the exploitative nature of commercial surrogacy. 

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Legal Rights Call For Children Born Through Surrogacy

Ailbhe Conneely | RTE | June 10, 2021

The absence of surrogacy regulation means that Irish mothers have no legal ties to children born through international surrogacy and have to apply for guardianship after two years. The Department of Health has been drafting a bill on assisted reproduction since 2017, and is expected to address concerns about surrogate requirements and regulations. The timeline for the bill is unknown, but will only recognize domestic surrogacy and is likely to consider the recent report by the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection. In the article, Cathy Wheatley, mom to two surrogacy-born children, expresses desire for intended mothers to have legal recognition in surrogacy situations, “because they have two parents who love them beyond belief…and we’ll just continue to fight for their rights…”

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Reforming the Law on Surrogacy: Reflections on the APPG on Surrogacy Report and Law Commission’s Consultation Paper

Charlotte Park-Morton | BioNews | June 1, 2021

This commentary discusses two papers calling for change in United Kingdom surrogacy guidelines: the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Surrogacy Report and the Law Commission’s Consultation Paper. The language in the 2020 APPG report is reflective of current legislation, which refers to surrogacy-born children as passive subjects of protection under the law, whereas the 2019 Law Commission’s paper underlines the importance of addressing the children as individuals with rights. Moving forward, surrogacy-born individuals are expected to pressure law reform to focus on children’s access to donor information.

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Hard Labour: The Surrogacy Industry in Kenya

Naipanoi Lepapa | The Elephant | May 28, 2021

This two-part report in The Elephant and accompanying video expose the dangers of the unregulated Kenyan surrogacy industry and feature stories of exploitation of surrogates by agencies.

Article Part 1

Article Part 2

Video

Georgia, We Have a Problem: Surrogacy and Exploitation

Winifred Badaiki | Impact Ethics | March 26, 2021

Many intended parents seek surrogacy services in the Republic of Georgia because prices are among the cheapest globally. Due to Georgia’s poor economic situation, many Georgian women turn to gestational surrogacy to escape poverty or other precarious situations. However, the country’s lack of surrogacy regulation means surrogates have few if any rights, and the industry often exploits the power dynamic between the low-income carriers and middle-class intended parents.

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New Laws Needed on Surrogacy, Special Rapporteur on Child Protection Says

Noel Baker | Irish Examiner | April 1, 2021

The Irish Special Rapporteur on Child Protection wrote a report calling for comprehensive surrogacy regulations to better serve surrogacy-born children. These recommendations would  address an arena entirely unregulated in Ireland. They call for a pathway to parentage through surrogacy, incentivizing domestic surrogacy arrangements over international ones, and greater rights for children, among other suggestions.

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Children ‘Should Have Right’ to Know Donor Parents From Age of 12

Sheila Wayman | The Irish Times | March 31, 2021

Professor Conor O’Mahony authored a report titled A Review of Children’s Rights and Best Interests in the Context of Donor-Assisted Human Reproduction and Surrogacy in Irish Law. The article focuses specifically on the recommendation that donor-assisted and surrogacy-born children have the right to request and access information about their genetic parents from the age of 12, rather than 18, which is in current law. Mahony recommends these provisions after the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs requested a review of children’s best interests in surrogacy cases.

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Parliamentary Panel Says ART Not Appropriate For Live-in or Same Sex Couples

Bindu Shajan Perappadan | The Hindu | March 20, 2021

In India, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare issued a report recommending that the 2020 version of the Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) Bill exclude unmarried and same-sex couples from use of ART, arguing that would be in the best interest of the children born through those services. The Committee also suggested that the government make IVF more accessible to poor communities by opening ART facilities at every medical institute and premier hospital. The report notes the urgent need for regulation and monitoring to prevent uncontrolled commercialization of the ART industry in India.

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