Nothing as It Seems

Earlier this year, the Government announced that they are preparing new laws to regulate surrogacy and the broader area of assisted human reproduction. The draft legislation will contain proposals to regulate surrogacy in Ireland for the first time, and will include an obligation for commissioning parents and surrogate mothers to give their consent and have counselling prior to any arrangement. Yet the legislation is expected to include a ban on commercial surrogacy—an arrangement where the surrogate mother receives a payment for bearing and giving birth to a child, on the condition that she eventually hands over the child, as well as the parental rights and responsibilities, to the commissioning couple. The legislation will only permit non-commercial surrogacy (or altruistic surrogacy), where surrogates receive no financial gain—although a reimbursement of out-of-pocket costs will be permitted. In an interview with RTÉ around the same time as the announcement, the Heal...

In February the Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, announced that the Cabinet are preparing new laws to regulate assisted human reproduction and surrogacy. At present there exists a legal vacuum, but the proposed Bill for Assisted Human Reproduction and Stem Cell Research will work towards regulating surrogacy and associated practices for the first time in Ireland. It is understood that legislation will only permit altruistic surrogacy , but not commercial surrogacy . Other countries like Denmark and Britain already permit altruistic surrogacy, but ban commercial surrogacy, while France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal and Italy ban the practice completely. Surrogacy is an arrangement where a woman becomes pregnant with the intention of transferring over the baby to someone else sometime after giving birth. In cases of altruistic surrogacy, it is usually a relative or close friend who volunteers to be the surrogate mother. Generally, infertile couples are the group most li...