The growing number of Britons using foreign surrogates to have children has raised concerns among campaigners, who warn it is introducing commercial surrogacy into the UK “through the back door”, as reported by The Times.
Between 2018 and 2024, more than 1,500 applications were made in England for legal parental orders for babies born to international surrogates. The highest number – 642 – came from the U.S., followed by Ukraine (258) and Georgia (144). Applications also involved surrogates in countries like Mexico, India, Nigeria, and Russia.
The number of annual applications more than doubled from over 150 in 2018 to more than 300 in 2024. In total, 2,174 parental order applications were made between 2018 and 2023, according to the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service.
While international surrogacy is legal for Britons, provided they obtain a parental order, 13 feminist groups have urged the government to ban the practice. In a letter to ministers, they warned it could lead to exploitation of women in poorer countries and encourage more over-60s and those using donor embryos to have children via surrogacy.
The letter cited a case where two British women in their sixties paid £120,000 to Ukrainian surrogates through a clinic in northern Cyprus. The women, unrelated to the babies, were granted an adoption order in the UK after a four-year legal battle. High Court Judge Sir Andrew McFarlane criticized them for being “entirely self-centred” and called the surrogates’ role “exploitation for commercial gain”.
Campaigners have called for the UK to follow Italy’s lead, where those who use surrogates abroad face up to two years in prison or fines of €1 million (£836,000). Helen Gibson of Surrogacy Concern stated, “If people go abroad to buy babies, they should face criminal sanctions on their return to the UK”.
The Department of Health and Social Care responded, saying surrogacy is “complex and sensitive,” and warned against arrangements where any party could be at risk of exploitation.
