Building Families Through Surrogacy: A New Law
The Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission have today issued a joint consultation paper on surrogacy.
It is accepted in the UK that the law on surrogacy is outdated and needs revising. The joint consultation paper runs to in excess of 500-page and sets out the law as it currently is in the UK, the international perspective and proposals for change. Some of the biggest issues for debate are the assignment of parentage, specifically whether this should take place prior to the birth rather than having to wait until a Parental Order is made some months after the baby has been born, better regulation, the rights of the child born through surrogacy and commercial payments.
As part of the consultation the Commissions want to understand public views on surrogacy, so that these can be incorporated into their final report to Government. This public consultation is open until the 27th September 2019.
It is perhaps fortuitous that this report has issued now at a time when we, in Ireland, shortly expect to be in receipt of the Joint Oireachtas Committee Report on the Assisted Human Reproduction Heads of Bill.
I set out a link to the UK Law Commission website here. If you would need advice on any of the issues raised in this public consultation documentation, contact Fiona Duffy, Partner at Patrick F. O’Reilly.
