A parliamentary debate on whether surrogacy laws in England and Wales should change to recognise parents of a child born by surrogacy at the time of the birth will be held today (Monday), after a public petition received over 100,000 signatures.
Change surrogacy law to recognise intended parents from birth was created by Adam Frisby and his husband, Jamie Corbett, after the couple’s baby daughter, Leven, was born via surrogate in the US.
When they returned to the UK, the couple found their child’s surrogate, Krista, was her legal parent under British law despite both fathers being named on their daughter’s birth certificate in the US.
The petition quickly gathered the 10,000 signatures required to trigger a government response, before surpassing the 100,000 signatures required for discussion by the Petitions Committee.
Kim Lehal, partner and head of international children at RWK Goodman, said there is a strong case for intended parents to be recognised as their child’s legal parents from birth.
“The current system can produce some striking anomalies”, she explained. “A parent who gives birth to a child is automatically recognised as the legal mother, even where she has no genetic connection to that child, whereas another parent may have to go through a lengthy and costly court process simply because their child was carried by a surrogate.
“For many intended parents, surrogacy is not a lifestyle choice but the result of circumstances entirely beyond their control, whether that is infertility, a medical condition or the way their family is formed. They may already have been through years of treatment and considerable emotional and financial strain before reaching the decision to use a surrogacy. It seems unfair that, having effectively lost the ‘genetic lottery’, they should then face another legal hurdle after the birth before being recognised as their child’s parents.
“However, reform cannot simply mean removing the safeguards that currently exist. There must still be proper protection for the child and for the surrogate, including ensuring that she has received independent advice and given fully informed consent. International surrogacy requires particular care because standards differ considerably between jurisdictions and, in some countries, poverty and a lack of regulation, counselling or support can leave women vulnerable to exploitation.”
Annie Leach, an associate and specialist in modern families and surrogacy law at RWK Goodman, added: “For domestic surrogacy arrangements, the legal process could be more front-loaded.
“The necessary checks and documentation could take place before the child is born so that, where everything is in order, parents can be recognised as the legal parents from birth or very shortly afterwards. Parents have already gone on a long journey to become a family, to then go through a further legal process can be arduous. A front loaded process could provide families with greater certainty without abandoning the checks and balances that are so important in surrogacy arrangements.”
