Surrogacy: who is the legal mother?
Under English law, the mother of a child born through surrogacy is always the surrogate mother. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 section 33 (or the equivalent Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 section 27 for conceptions before 6 April 2009) provides that the woman who gives birth to a child, and no other, is the legal mother.
The logic behind the law is primarily to protect women conceiving with donor eggs. However, in surrogacy cases it means that motherhood status goes exclusively to the surrogate mother. The intended mother has no recognition as a parent, even if she is her child’s biological mother.
