Today, the Law Commission have published their final recommendations to Government, calling for reform of surrogacy laws in the U.K.
The proposed change would make commissioning parents legal parents at birth. That means that the birth mother would never be regarded as the legal parent, nor would she be listed on the birth certificate.
This has been privately lobbied for behind closed doors, away from women and maternity groups for years. The Law Commission consulted in 2019, but never published their responses or said who had fed in to their consultation.
Law firms and surrogacy agencies are rubbing their hands with glee today: I feel physically sick.
They would have you believe surrogacy in this country is “altruistic”. This is not the case. Women can receive upwards of £20,000 per pregnancy in “expenses” - which is a huge financial incentive to a woman if they are from a poor background.
Do we want to live in a society which creates a servant class of women? Which takes babies away from their mothers at birth?
When pregnant we are all advised to bond with our babies, breastfeed if we can and speak to our babies in utero. How does the NHS square this advice with making it legal for a child to never legally have a connection to its own mother?
If you are in anyway concerned about these proposals please, please contact your MP and raise all the noise you can to try and stop this before it is too late:
https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/surrogacy-laws-to-be-overhauled-under-new-reforms-benefitting-the-child-surrogate-and-intended-parents/