Archive for the ‘UK surrogacy’ Category
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
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Sunday, September 23rd, 2012
A joint claim has been lodged at the High Court challenging the lack of maternity leave rights for families through surrogacy. Surrogacy UK and a mother directly affected are together seeking a declaration from the High Court that the current law is unfair.
The issue is that UK parents who have a child with the help of a surrogate mother do not have rights to time off work to care for their new child, while parents who give birth or who adopt do. As a result, the mother bringing the claim (known only as RKA) was denied maternity leave rights by her employer to care for her newborn child, and was then made redundant while on unpaid leave.
Surrogacy UK, which has brought the claim together with her in its capacity as a leading representative of many UK families, says: “We’ve made this claim as the leading surrogacy organisation in the UK, reflecting our responsibility to promote and protect the interests of our members and all others involved in surrogacy. Put simply, there can be no reason to treat parents of children born via surrogacy any differently from any other parent looking after a new-born. The Government has a responsibility to ensure that all parents have rights to a family life and the best possible start for their child.”
Merry Varney from law firm Leigh Day & Co, who is representing RKA and Surrogacy UK, says: “The Government has a positive obligation under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act to protect surrogate parents to ensure respect for their private and family life and a positive obligation under Article 14 to avoid discrimination.”
The anomaly which denies maternity leave was raised in Parliament earlier this year, when John Healey MP called for equal maternity leave rights for mothers through surrogacy. His constituent Jane Kassim had also been denied maternity leave after her cousin Amy carried her and husband’s twins (read more about what he said here). With the Department of Business Innovation and Skills currently reviewing the law on maternity rights, there is an opportunity to address the problem.
While surrogacy was historically a rare phenomenon which only affected a tiny handful of families, that is no longer the case. The numbers of parental orders (the orders which make parents through surrogacy the legal parents) stood at 138 last year, up from 58 just two years ago.
We at Natalie Gamble Associates have been campaigning to end discrimination against surrogate families for many years. As well as the employment law issues, other problems arise from the fact that it takes so long (often up to a year after the birth) for the parents to win legal recognition. There can be problems with medical consent, not to mention severe difficulties over immigration where children are born through surrogacy abroad. There is also no proper regulation of surrogacy services in the UK, while surrogacy thrives as an industry in many places abroad, driving more and more parents to go abroad. Surrogacy law in the UK desperately needs updating and we hope dealing with the employment discrimination will be just the first step.
For more information see:
Surrogacy UK press release
Leigh Day and Co press release
Sunday Times article (subscription required)
John Healey MP speaking in Parliament in April
More from our blog about our long campaign to end discrimination in maternity leave rights
More from our website about surrogacy law and why it needs reviewing
Tags: Amy Bellamy, employment rights, High Court, Jane Kassim, John Healey MP, judicial review, maternity leave, Natalie Gamble, RKA, Sarah-Kate Templeton, Sunday Times, Surrogacy UK, surrogate mother, UK surrogacy
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Monday, September 17th, 2012
Friday’s episode saw Tina offer to be Gary and Izzy’s surrogate following much deliberation. Working with a friend is a common route to finding a surrogate in the UK given that professional surrogacy agencies are barred here (although there are a few non profit making UK agencies).
For those parents fortunate enough to have a friend willing to carry their baby, surrogacy arrangements often work extremely well. Each arrangement is unique and we advise many parents on the legal issues, including parental status and payments. If you would like some clarification on the legal issues surrounding your arrangement, please contact us at hello@nataliegambleassociates.com.
There is also free information available on our website on surrogacy law and more from our blog about our work with Coronation Street on this storyline.
Tags: commercial surrogacy, Coronation Street surrogacy, fertility law, Gary Izzy Tina, Natalie Gamble Associates, surrogacy agreements, surrogacy law, surrogacy lawyer, surrogacy solicitor, UK surrogacy
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Thursday, September 6th, 2012
The Hague Conference on Private International Law announced last year that it was looking at regulating international surrogacy arrangements. Although the process is at an early stage, any international treaty on surrogacy could have a significant impact on the growing numbers of parents crossing borders to find surrogate mothers.
Natalie was asked to write an article for journal International Family Law, in response. Standing up for parents conceiving through surrogacy, Natalie’s article, which has been published this week, calls for the Hague to ensure it looks at surrogacy with a sophisticated understanding, and challenges the UK government to look again at how UK surrogacy law works, updating laws put in place in the 1980s to make them fit for the 21st century.
Read the article in full here (Surrgacy: creating a sensible national and international framework) or get in touch to join our campaign to improve the law for parents conceiving through surrogacy in the UK and abroad. There is more information about surrogacy law on our website.
Tags: Californian surrogacy, commercial surrogacy, fertility law, gay men conception, gay surrogacy law, International Family Law, international surrogacy, international surrogacy law, leading surrogacy lawyer, Natalie Gamble, same sex parenting law, surrogacy agreements, surrogacy campaigning, surrogacy law, surrogacy lawyer, surrogacy solicitor, Surrogacy: creating a sensible national and international framework, UK surrogacy, UK surrogacy attorney
Posted in gay men surrogacy, international surrogacy, Natalie Gamble, Natalie Gamble Associates news, same sex parenting, UK surrogacy | Comments Off
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:
