Call to Action on Surrogacy! Email your MP

[OhHolyJesus]

Over the last month or so I have read online about...

A woman who has a brain injury
A woman who lost the baby and had a hysterectomy
A woman who died almost immediately after the baby was born

All of these women are UK surrogate mothers and it shocks me that surrogacy is still viewed as this harmless alternative method to having a family.

Mumsnetters can view my posting history to see how this subject sparked my interest but as a quick recap, the Law Commissions of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission jointly make these following legal changes in the draft Bill which:

• reduces the time a mother has to change her mind

*removes the need for Family Court and CAFCASS oversight for surrogacy arrangements on a new “pathway” (likely to be all domestic cases conducted through agencies, at least hundreds of cases per year)

*takes away a mother’s parental rights at birth and does not seek her consent again at or after birth,
*recommends surrogate mothers not be listed on the birth certificates of their own children

*allows open advertising for surrogate mothers for the first time; a significant risk to low income and working-class women and a recommendation the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has expressed concerns over

• the surrogate mothers would still be able to use their own egg in the pregnancy, meaning at the point of handover the child is being handed away from their own genetic mother, outside of adoption frameworks, local authority and judicial oversight

*women are not required to have had their own children, and a minimum age of just 21 has been suggested for surrogate mothers, and 18 for commissioning parents.

You can email your MP using this quick and easy template from Surrogacy Concern.

surrogacyconcern.uk/take-action-send-a-letter-to-your-mp-on-surrogacy-and-law-commission-proposals/

I would have thought that this is the sort of thing Family Courts/CAFCASS were designed for - looking after the interests of children.

CAFCAS did submit to the consultation and they have been involved with the "cross government working group" on surrogacy.

I can't imagine they were pleased with the recommendation that CAFCAS would no longer be involved but maybe it just means less work for them?

www.cafcass.gov.uk/sites/default/files/migrated/Law-Commission-review-of-surrogacy-legislation.pdf

Thanks for this, and all the work you've done on this @OhHolyJesus

Done, thanks OhHolyJesus.

Thank you for this. I've sent an email

I personally find this last point harrowing.

*women are not required to have had their own children, and a minimum age of just 21 has been suggested for surrogate mothers, and 18 for commissioning parents.

JFC

Yes, this is one of the most shocking recommendations (if there was an order of the most shocking, I think it's all pretty awful) particularly when you think about 'informed consent' which is listed as a requirement of a parental order in Uk law.

Indeed.

I'm saddened and depressed this post hasnt had more traction on here...

Thank you @OhHolyJesus for sharing

I've sent it.

Totally agree. Surrogacy makes me uncomfortable. I hate the celebs buying babies and it's seen as progressive for gay couples. Nothing against gay people as parents but I don't believe in using women's bodies as incubators or making babies commodities.

This isn't going in the right direction.

Email sent
Personally I think surrogacy should be totally banned

Done. Although I wonder how it will get to my mp as he us the only ine in parliament who refuses to let his constituents contact him by email. Stupid old dinosaur. He has been told by his own party that this is not acceptable but on he buggers.
Anyway, thanks for posting this.

Thanks to you all - I really hope MPs read the emails received. Surrogacy Concern invite those who receive replies to contact them so do let them know if you get any feedback.

To those thanking me, that's lovely of you all but we are all fighting some form of an assault on women in one form or another. It is endless and gets worse and worse every day. I've taken long breaks from MN and elsewhere as it's hard to stomach on a day to day basis.

Other than the recent surrogacy stories I mentioned there the details grooming gangs which have been exposed and I suppose this tells us how little the police and judiciary care about children, specifically girls.

I'd like to think we wouldn't legislate to support newborns being taken from their mothers at birth, but we already have and these reforms make something already pretty abominable much, much worse.

As an adoptee who feels the trauma of what happened to me in my bones I just want to say thank you 💐

I am so sorry Dungarees, it is a trauma that lasts a lifetime as I understand it. The 'good' adoption stories in the media seem to outweigh the bad but for me this is only because no one bothers to tell them.

The same media narrative operates in surrogacy. You are right and describe it perfectly. I am so sorry for what was done to you.

Agreed.

@OhHolyJesus I'm in Wales , is it worth sending the same email to my Sennedd member ?

Yes absolutely, it's a quick template so shouldn't take you more than a few minutes.

Worth a try!

Thank you - have sent the templated letter. Surrogacy is abhorrent and should be banned outright.

Bumping purely to remind myself to do this over the weekend.

Janice Turner has waded in in the Times with her usual pithy eloquence. I hope that generates a few MP letters.

Easing surrogacy is the mother of all mistakes

www.thetimes.com/article/83184aee-b019-4c5b-a976-4457e495b047?shareToken=294bcf18472f4382aed3c3bfe4bc4000

It's cut off the image, OhHolyJesus.

'For feminists, the report’s most worrying proposal is removing careful maternal protections inserted in law by the late Mary Warnock that make a surrogate the legal mother until a parental order is obtained. Reformers want those paying for the pregnancy to be default parents from the start, with the mother having six weeks — when she is probably recovering from the birth — in which to launch a legal bid to keep the baby.

From the Times article. Thanks for the sharetoken.

Thanks for posting this Careful, what a blistering piece!

I didn't realise this

"The global market in commercial surrogacy grows every year: from $14 billion in 2022 to $17.9 billion in 2023, to a projected $129 billion by 2032."

It's clearly a business with international trade links between countries.

I just can't get over finding out that you were bought, I can't imagine what that feels like.

Thanks @ArabellaScott - I misposted that as it was intended for a different thread but it's relevant to the wider discussion I guess as one of those examples was surrogacy and it ties in with the Times article.

If Labour do decide to go ahead with this reform I hope they will listen to feminists this time.

We have a good track record of being right when it comes to safeguarding children.

I've not had a response from my MP, which is disappointing. This whole thing is so scary.