Archive for the ‘UK surrogacy’ Category
Thursday, July 11th, 2013
In the run up to the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology’s Annual Conference, the British Infertility Counselling Association and the International Infertility Counselling Organisation gathered a group of international clinicians and counsellors, in the first meeting of its kind, to discuss the challenges as ART goes global. Helen was delighted to speak at the conference workshop (at the ExCel Centre in London on July 6th) about overseas surrogacy.
Helen’s talk and further discussions highlighted the diverseness of legal and ethical issues when dealing with surrogacy across the world. Without any global harmonisation, those working with commissioning parents find that dealing with surrogacy is at best cumbersome and at worst a criminal offence, with some exceptionally stringent consequences for counsellors or anyone involved in surrogacy. The UK is at the liberal end from a European perspective, unlike Germany and Italy where surrogacy is not permitted, but it still has some way to go to be being a surrogacy destination like the US. The overwhelming consensus is that surrogacy is here to stay and is a global family building option – where people cannot find a solution in their own country, they will go abroad. The dilemma that counsellors and legal teams across the world have is how to give support and advice responsibly to ensure that the families created are fully protected.
What NGA would like to see in the UK is a more streamlined approach. Surrogacy is a collaborative arrangement and everyone’s role needs to be appropriately respected. We should have contracts at the outset, because they encourage everyone to enter into a complex situation on a fully informed basis, and with the benefit of proper support and guidance. Where all goes well, the agreement should be honoured so that the parents can, by agreement, become legal parents immediately. But where there are difficulties for any reason, there should be a mechanism for dealing with them sensitively, weighing up the interests of everyone involved, including the child.
Other speakers included Diana Guerra-Diaz, head of Psychology Unit in IVI Barcelona and on the Catalan Committee on Human Reproduction, Jennie Hunt, Senior Infertility Counsellor at IVF Hammersmith, Uschi Van den Broeak talking on the attitudes and motivations for semen donors as well as Laura Witjens, Chair of the National Gamete Donation Trust. The audience included attendees from across the globe including South Africa, Argentina, USA, Belgium, France, Israel, Ireland, Spain, The Netherlands, Portugal, Australia, Greece, Germany and across the UK and Northern Ireland.
There is more information about international surrogacy law on our website.
Tags: BICA, ESHRE, Helen Prosser, IICO, overseas surrogacy, surrogacy campaigning, surrogacy legal and ethical
Posted in fertility law, international surrogacy, Natalie Gamble Associates news, UK surrogacy | Comments Off
Wednesday, June 26th, 2013
We have been working with Coronation Street on their surrogacy storyline (the first in a mainstream UK soap) which has come to a head this week, with surrogate Tina making the emotional decision about whether to hand baby Jake back to his biological parents Gary and Izzy.
We have been helping Corrie to get the law right, but what would happen in reality? Do surrogates often change their minds, and what is the legal position if they do, particularly if it is not their biological child?
UK law says that the surrogate is the legal mother, whether or not she is not the biological mother. The intended parents can apply to court for a new birth certificate after the birth - a process which ends the surrogate’s motherhood – but only with her consent. If she withholds it, the surrogate remains the legal mother, although the family court can order that the child should live with the intended parents anyway.
But the legal position rarely fits with what happens on the ground – in reality, surrogacy arrangements go wrong surprisingly rarely. The structure of the law would make you think that surrogates change their minds often, and need to have their rights protected. In reality, the picture is very different. There have now been over 1,000 parental orders granted in the UK (surrogacy cases with no dispute) and only 2 reported cases where a surrogate has sought to keep the baby. In both cases, the surrogate was also the biological mother, and in only one of them did she win her case.
So what would happen if a gestational surrogate like Tina (who is not biologically connected) wanted to keep a surrogate baby? The answer is that we just don’t know because it has never yet happened in the UK.
And what will happen with Tina, Gary and Izzy? Well, we know, but we aren’t allowed to tell you…
There is more information about surrogacy law on our website. You can also read what Natalie thinks about whether surrogates should still have an absolute right to change their minds under UK law here.
Tags: Coronation Street surrogacy, Gary, Izzy, surrogacy law, surrogate change of mind, surrogate consent, Tina
Posted in fertility law, gay men surrogacy, Natalie Gamble Associates news, UK surrogacy | Comments Off
Wednesday, June 12th, 2013
The NGA team were delighted to attend the ‘Want to be a parent’ show in Cardiff at the weekend. It was great to meet lots of would-be parents, as well as other exhibitors with one common focus – building families in alternative ways. Whether through donor conception, co-parenting, surrogacy or adoption and whether as a single parent, same sex parents or straight parents, there was something for everyone.
Nicola talked on surrogacy, covering both UK and international arrangements and the associated legal and practical aspects that parents should consider. Other talks included ‘fertility for the over 40s’, ‘adoption and fostering’ and ‘single mothers by choice’ all led by a range of experts in a variety of fields.
We hope to see you there next year!
For more information on how we can help you with any of these family building options contact us here
Posted in adoption, Co-parenting, donor conception, family building, international surrogacy, lesbian parenting, same sex parenting, UK surrogacy | Comments Off
Sunday, April 7th, 2013
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has voted to update the guidance it gives to UK fertility clinics on surrogacy. The new Code of Practice will:
* clarify what UK clinics should say to surrogacy patients, and
* update clinic procedures and forms for surrogacy.
The HFEA voted to make these changes (following advice from NGA and its own lawyers) at its meeting on 20 March 2013 and will now undergo a period of consultation on the practicalities, before the new Code of Practice is introduced on 1 October 2013. This includes a workshop for clinics and professionals practising in surrogacy, to be held at the HFEA on 30 April 2013.
We congratulate the HFEA on a very sensible decision, which will mean clearer guidance for parents and clinics dealing with increasing numbers of surrogacy cases. In particular, it will be made clear that where a surrogate is unmarried, one of the intended parents (whether gay or straight, and whether or not a biological parent) can be named on the child’s initial birth certificate together with the surrogate. This approach will make the HFEA’s guidance entirely consistent with longstanding practice at register offices and in the family courts.
You can find out more about the HFEA meeting on 20 March here, and there is more on our website about surrogacy law.
Note added – Natalie has written an article for Bionews on this issue ‘The HFEA gets into gear on surrogacy’ which you can read online here.
Tags: Authority meeting 20 March 2013, Code of Practice, HFEA, Natalie Gamble Associates, surrogacy campaigning, surrogacy law, surrogacy lawyer, UK surrogacy
Posted in fertility law, gay men surrogacy, same sex parenting, UK surrogacy, Uncategorized | Comments Off
Thursday, March 7th, 2013
Natalie was interviewed by James Naughtie on this morning’s BBC Radio 4 Today Programme about surrogacy (listen again here). The programme covered a US surrogacy case which hit the news after a US surrogate mother refused to terminate her pregnancy at 21 weeks when it was discovered that the baby would be born severely disabled.
In the UK, surrogacy law gives all the rights to the woman who carries the pregnancy – she is the legal mother. Although a case like this has never happened in the UK, if it did there would be no doubt (as there was under US law) that the surrogate mother would hold all the cards. But is this the right approach?
In practice, we know on the ground that surrogacy disputes are incredibly rare. For the vast majority of cases, it would make more sense for the intended (biological) parents, rather than the surrogate, to have legal responsibilities much earlier – it’s what everyone involved wants, and the long delay transferring parenthood leaves children vulnerable for far too long. And where there are disputes, we need a more sophisticated approach to balancing the interests of all involved – surrogate, parents and child.
The real lesson of this case is that we can avoid problems like this by giving the right support at the start. Parents and surrogates need to communicate clearly, and those with radically mismatched views on termination should not proceed together. That is why it is so crazy that UK surrogacy law goes out of its way to deny those going into surrogacy arrangements the support they need. Under UK law, surrogacy contracts are unenforceable and illegal for lawyers to draft, and professional matching and brokering services are prohibited by criminal law. It’s time for that to change.
There is more information about surrogacy law and our campaigning work on our website.
Tags: Marilyn Crawshaw, Natalie Gamble, surrogacy campaigning, surrogacy law, Today, UK surrogacy
Posted in fertility law, gay men surrogacy, international surrogacy, UK surrogacy | Comments Off
Friday, January 25th, 2013
Metro featured a big spread on Wednesday asking whether commercial surrogacy should be made legal in the UK.
Read Natalie’s comments on the increasing acceptance of surrogacy, and the need to create a more structured legal framework, as well as legal changes urgently needed to include single parents and to give intended parents legal status from birth. The Metro article is here.
You can also find out more about surrogacy law and our campaigning work from our website. Follow us on Twitter if you want to get involved.
Tags: Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, British Surrogacy Centre, commercial surrogacy, Metro, Natalie Gamble, surrogacy law, Surrogacy UK, UK, UK surrogacy
Posted in gay men surrogacy, international surrogacy, Natalie Gamble Associates news, same sex parenting, UK surrogacy | Comments Off
Thursday, November 15th, 2012
Some days I feel very proud of what we do here, and today is one of those days. After a campaign of more than five years, I am thrilled to post that the government announced yesterday that they would be introducing adoption leave (equivalent to maternity leave) rights for parents through surrogacy.
Until now, parents whose biological child is carried by another woman have had no rights to time off work when their new baby arrives, unlike parents who give birth or who adopt a child. This has been grossly unfair, and resulted in parents through surrogacy having to quit their jobs or go back to work if their employer does not (or cannot) give leave on a discretionary basis.
The new rights will be introduced as part of the government’s maternity leave and adoption leave reforms, expected to come into force in 2015. Although the full detail has yet to be confirmed, we know that parents through surrogacy will be entitled to two antenatal appointments during the pregnancy, and adoption leave after the birth. This will be available to all couples eligible to apply for a parental order, including heterosexual parents and gay dads. Surrogate mothers will also retain their right to maternity leave to recover from giving birth.
More information is available in the government’s response to the consultation on modern workplaces which says:
We propose that intended parents in surrogacy cases who satisfy the criteria for a Parental
Order and intend to apply, or have applied, to a court for a Parental Order will be entitled to
leave and pay on the same basis as adopters who are eligible for statutory adoption leave
and pay, subject to the qualifying conditions and evidential requirements. In addition, both
intended parents will be entitled to take unpaid time off to attend two antenatal appointments
with the surrogate mother carrying their child.
What is so exciting about the change, as well as the practical legal rights it will introduce for new parents, is that this is the very first time in UK legal history that parents through surrogacy have been recognised as having any rights in advance of the birth of their child. This is a very significant recognition that surrogacy is real and here to stay, and hopefully a first step towards wider reform of our surrogacy laws.
There is more information about surrogacy law on our website, and more about our campaigning work.
Tags: fertility law, fertility lawyer, gay men conception, gay parenting, gay surrogacy law, international surrogacy law, law, maternity, maternity leave, Natalie Gamble, Natalie Gamble Associates, surrogacy campaigning, surrogacy law, surrogacy lawyer, surrogacy solicitor, UK surrogacy
Posted in fertility law, gay men surrogacy, international surrogacy, Natalie Gamble Associates news, same sex parenting, UK surrogacy, Uncategorized | Comments Off
Sunday, November 11th, 2012
Kyle’s story has featured in a big piece in the Daily Mail, and in the Metro, as well as various other local stories and radio interviews. Well done to Kyle for championing the rights of single dads: we are right behind you!
You can read the Daily Mail feature here, or find out more about surrogacy for single parents from our website.
Tags: gay surrogacy law, Kyle Casson, Natalie Gamble Associates, single father, solo dad, solo father, surrogacy agreements, surrogacy law, surrogacy lawyer, surrogacy solicitor, surrogate mother, UK surrogacy
Posted in family building, fertility law, gay men surrogacy, Natalie Gamble Associates news, same sex parenting, UK surrogacy | Comments Off
Monday, November 5th, 2012
Today’s ITV Daybreak featured Kyle Casson, a single dad who we are proud to be working with on his journey to become the first single parent through surrogacy in the UK. Well done to Kyle for speaking out so bravely, and for being such a great a champion for solo dads.
Kyle spoke characterically warmly about his plans to be a father. He has always wanted children, and wants to do it in his twenties (with active grandparents) rather than waiting for a partner who may not come along. He has planned things carefully, is financially secure, has the enthusiastic support of his family, and has a surrogate who wants to help him. You can see Kyle talking about his story on ITV Daybreak here.
So what does the law say?
The law in the UK has never made it illegal to enter into a surrogacy arrangement as a single father. But it doesn’t make it easy either. Most parents through surrogacy (including gay dads and unmarried couples) can apply for a ‘parental order’ after their child is born. This is an order made by the family court which gives the intended parents a new birth certificate and extinguishes the responsibilities of the surrogate mother. Single parents are not, however, eligible to apply.
This means it is perfectly legal for Kyle to have a child through surrogacy in the UK, but the normal solution for families created through surrogacy (designed to give lifelong security and certainty for the child) is not available. He will have to get creative with using law designed for other purposes to secure his family and resolve the position of his surrogate – adoption being the best alternative to a parental order if the family court will agree to help.
Our call to action
On behalf of Kyle and the increasing numbers of solo prospective dads we are advising (some going abroad for surrogacy, others entering into co-parenting arrangements) we at NGA call for parental orders to be made available to solo parents. The law has already been extended, in 2008, to allow gay dads and unmarried couples to apply, and it is now time to allow single parents to apply too. This would bring the law into line with adoption law, which allows single parents to become adopters, and with reproductive law for women which was specifically amended in 2008 to allow solo mums to conceive through donor insemination.
We frequently see heartbreaking cases caused by the denial of surrogacy to single parents. A change to the law would benefit not only prospective solo dads like Kyle, but also single women who have survived cancer and need the help of a surrogate to carry their child, and widowed fathers who want to use embryos in storage, just as widowed mothers are able to do.
And what do we say to people (like the lady on Daybreak with Kyle this morning) who say that such solo parents who want to have children are selfish? Well, wanting to be a parent is something most human beings experience, so it comes down to whether children suffer harm if raised without a mother and a father. This is an old question for non-traditional families, and the answer (backed by long research, including by the Centre for Family Research at Cambridge University) is that children in deliberately created non-traditional families (including solo parent families) have good outcomes, and are in a very different position from children whose parents have separated. It is the quality of the relationships which matters, and not the gender or number of the parents.
Find out more from our website about surrogacy law for single parents, or about the options for gay and solo dads.
Tags: fertility law, gay men conception, gay surrogacy law, international surrogacy, international surrogacy law, ITV Daybreak, Kyle Casson, single father, solo father, surrogacy campaigning, surrogacy law, surrogacy lawyer, surrogacy solicitor, UK surrogacy
Posted in family building, fertility law, gay men surrogacy, international surrogacy, same sex parenting, UK surrogacy | Comments Off
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012
Natalie has written a comment piece for Bionews criticising the unchallengeable position surrogate mothers are currently given by UK surrogacy law.
The law in the UK has long provided that the woman who gives birth is the legal mother. In surrogacy cases, the intended parents (one or both of whom must be the biological parents) can apply to the family court to have parenthood reassigned to them, but they are entirely dependent on the surrogate and her husband/civil partner giving their consent. If it is withheld, they cannot become the legal parents. Conversely, if the intended parents do not take responsibility, the surrogate has no means of holding them both legally responsible for the life they have created.
Natalie criticises the law as being outdated in a modern age in which surrogacy is becoming more common. Very few arrangements do go wrong (a proportion of roughly 0.02%) and where things run to plan, the current law means that parental responsibility is left in the wrong hands for far too long, contrary to everyone’s wishes and the best interests of the child. In the rare cases where things go wrong, the courts in practice decide care arrangements flexibly on a best interests basis, but legal parentage can remain unresolved forever.
It is time for us to introduce law which deals with surrogacy in a much more sophisticated way, understanding that it is a collaborative process in which the rights and responsibilities of everyone involved – the surrogate, her partner, the intended parents and the child – all need to be carefully balanced. This is what both surrogates and parents want, and what is in the best interests of children born through surrogacy.
You can read Natalie’s comment piece Should surrogate mothers still have an absolute right to change their minds? or find out more about surrogacy law from our website.
Progress Educational Trust, which publishes Bionews, is a wonderful charity which does crucial work informing debate on assisted conception and genetics. You can donate to PET or subscribe to Bionews by clicking here.
Tags: Bionews, consent, fertility law, international surrogacy, Natalie Gamble, surrogacy agreement, surrogacy campaigning, surrogacy law, surrogacy lawyer, surrogacy solicitor, surrogate mother, surrogate mother change of mind, UK surrogacy
Posted in international surrogacy, Natalie Gamble, Natalie Gamble Associates news, UK surrogacy | Comments Off
In the run up to the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology’s Annual Conference, the British Infertility Counselling Association and the International Infertility Counselling Organisation gathered a group of international clinicians and counsellors, in the first meeting of its kind, to discuss the challenges as ART goes global. Helen was delighted to speak at the conference workshop (at the ExCel Centre in London on July 6th) about overseas surrogacy.
