Surrogacy

The surrogate is implanted with an embryo created by IVF using the intended father’s sperm and donor eggs. The resulting child is genetically related to the intended father and genetically unrelated to the surrogate.

The surrogate is implanted with an embryo created by IVF using the intended mother’s eggs and donor sperm. The resulting child is genetically related to the intended mother and genetically unrelated to the surrogate.

A donor embryo is implanted in a surrogate. Such embryos are usually donated by other couples who have gone through IVF themselves and have surplus embryos left over. The resulting child is genetically unrelated to the intended parent(s) and genetically unrelated to the surrogate.

The surrogate is artificially inseminated with donor sperm via IUI, IVF or home insemination. The resulting child is genetically unrelated to the intended parent(s) and genetically related to the surrogate. This service is not available at Aurora.

The legal aspects of surrogacy tend to hinge on a few central questions:

• Are surrogacy agreements enforceable, void or prohibited?
• Does it make a difference whether the surrogate mother is paid (commercial) or simply reimbursed for expenses (altruistic)?
• What, if any, difference does it make whether the surrogacy is traditional or gestational?
• Is there an alternative to post-birth adoption for the recognition of the intended parents as the legal parents, either before or after the birth?

UK law stipulates that the woman giving birth to a child is that child’s legal mother, and the only way for another woman to be recognised as the mother is through adoption (usually requiring the birth mother’s formal abandonment of parental rights).

If a surrogate changes her mind and decides to keep the child, the intended mother has no claim to the child even if it is her genetic offspring, and the couple cannot get back any money they may have paid or reimbursed to the surrogate.

If the intended parents change their mind and do not want the child after all, the surrogate cannot get any reimbursement for expenses, or any promised payment, and she will be left with legal custody of the child.

Ethical issues that have been raised include:

• Concerns about exploitation, commodification, and/or coercion when women are paid to be pregnant and deliver babies, especially in cases where there are large wealth and power differentials between intended parents and surrogates.
• Is it right for society to permit women to make contracts about the use of their bodies?
• What does motherhood mean?
• Should a child born via surrogacy have the right to know the identity of any/all of the people involved in that child’s conception and delivery?

Different religions take different approaches, often related to their stances on assisted reproductive technology in general.

CATHOLICISM

Paragraph 2376 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that: “Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral.”

JUDAISM

Jewish law states that the parents of the child are the man who gives sperm and the woman who gives the egg cell. More recently, Jewish religious establishments have accepted full gestational surrogacy with both intended parents’ gametes included and fertilisation done via IVF.