European View of Surrogacy Law

The legal aspects of surrogacy are rather different in European countries. In France, Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden, and some American states (Indiana, New York, Michigan etc) surrogacy is fully prohibited. In some jurisdictions, only non-commercial surrogacy is allowed - Australia, UK (only with paying the running costs of surrogate mother), Denmark (with significant restrictions), Canada, Israel, the Netherlands (advertise of surrogacy services is prohibited), some American states (New Jersey, Virginia).

In Belgium, Greece, Mexico etc surrogacy is not regulated by the law, but in fact this procedure can take place in these countries.

There are countries where surrogacy is absolutely legal. These are most states of the USA, South Africa, Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. In Belarus, surrogacy as an assisted method of reproductive technologies can be done only for women who due to physiological problems cannot bear a child or there is a risk for women’s and child’s life or state of health.

Laws on this issue differ widely from one jurisdiction to another. The most common questions that arise when a couple decides to use services of surrogate mother are the following ones:

  • are surrogacy procedures legal or prohibited?
  • does it make a difference whether the surrogate mother has a fixated payment or simply reimbursed for expenses?
  • what difference is between  traditional or gestational surrogacy?
  • what are the legal aspects of child’s registration born by surrogate mother?

Most western countries’ governments vote for the complete prohibition of all surrogacy arrangements, and in some jurisdictions civil and criminal penalties apply for the people who decide to take part in surrogacy programs. But some vote for creating the law that would legalize surrogacy, based purely on the altruistic purpose, and prohibit commercial surrogacy. Nevertheless, issue on surrogacy procedure continues to be a controversial one. Therefore, taking into account disappointing statistics according to which more than 20 % of couples all over the world suffer from infertility and can’t have children in natural way, they prefer to go to those countries where this procedure is legal. Ukraine is among such countries where all methods of reproductive medicine are regulated by a number of Ukrainian Laws and Acts.  Visiting the next pages of our site you will be able to find the essential information concerning surrogacy law in different countries.

The most important moment is the clear understanding (of both sides) of surrogacy process and the legal contract. The most famous case of legal conflicts related to surrogacy is the so-called "case of Baby M" that happened in the United States, when the surrogate mother refused to give biological father a child. In 1988, the Family Court of New Jersey decided to give this child up to the "adoption" and later give all parental rights to the biological father, but surrogate mother was given the right to visit the child and to participate in his upbringing. It is necessary to be attentive and study all legal aspects of surrogacy process and all of the issues related to it to avoid any risks. Our organization will help you to make surrogacy process go off without a hitch.