Commercial surrogacy law compromised
A High Court judge has made controversial statements concerning commercial surrogacy laws in the UK.
Speaking on Radio 4’s ‘The World at One’ programme, Mr Justice Hedley spoke of the difficulties encountered when British couples go abroad to find a surrogate.
Commercial surrogacy arrangements, where a couple pays a surrogate mother to carry and give birth to the child (in addition to medical and other expenses), are not currently legal in the UK. However, when British couples have travelled abroad and made such arrangements in a country where commercial surrogacy is legal, a conflict often occurs.
Furthermore, these legal differences between nations often mean that, legally speaking, the child is born “parentless and stateless,” according to Mr Justice Hedley.
He made reference to a recent case where a British couple paid a Ukrainian woman more than reasonable expenses to carry and give birth to ‘their’ child. However, under British law the Ukrainian couple were the legal parents but under Ukrainian law the British couple were the parents. Mr Justice Hedley therefore made a ruling to allow payment to be made retrospectively to ensure that the child would not be left without a home.
He went on to say that he is “extremely anxious about the difficulties people have got themselves into” and acknowledged that commercial surrogacy is a complicated ethical issue but that his decisions were based on securing the welfare of the child and “if that means that the will of Parliament has been subverted, well that is, I think, a matter Parliament would have to address.”
However, some fear that the Judge’s admissions will encourage those thinking of commercial surrogacy to engage in it without fear of prosecution. British law is clear that commercial surrogacy is illegal but with the High Court willing and able to authorise payments retrospectively to surrogate mothers, couples might be emboldened to take the risk.
Andrea Williams, CEO of Christian Concern, said:
“We have compassion for couples that are unable to have children. However, the regulations that we have in place are supposed to ensure that there is no element of profit in the surrogacy process, and ensure that vulnerable women are not exploited for their wombs. Children are not commodities to be bought and sold. It is not the case that everybody has the right to a child, at whatever the cost. Any potential weakening of the law is a step in the wrong direction.”
Sources
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