Surrogacy law reform could remove automatic rights of birth parents

SURROGACY laws could be reformed to remove automatic rights from birth parents, under plans being examined by the Government.

Law Commission recommendations have Government backing and will be developed to make the rules “fit for the modern world”. A three-year project will examine rules which give a woman and her husband automatic parentage over a child she gives birth to, even if the child is not biologically theirs.

It will “consider the legal parentage of children born via surrogacy, and the regulation of surrogacy more widely,” the Law Commission said.

Surrogacy arrangements have risen sharply in recent years as more samesex couples and single parents seek to have children this way. The current law means intended parents have to apply for a court order for legal rights over the child, which can cause problems around medical treatment and immunisations in early life.

It also means parents face a legal fight if a surrogate mother changes her mind about giving up the child. Earlier his year Olympic diver Tom Daley and husband Dustin Lance Black were shocked by UK laws, which do not allow commercial arrangements and restrict advertising for a surrogate.

They are expecting a child by a surrogate mother and, speaking to Attitude magazine, Mr Black said the UK was “so far ahead still of the United States on employment, housing, security and marriage. But on surrogacy, it’s not available in the same way.” Surrogacy agreements are unenforceable in UK courts so there is no way to make a legally-binding arrangement.

The project will also examine the use of international surrogates which will cover both English and Welsh and Scottish law.