A Comparative Study on the Regime of Surrogacy in EU Member States

Briefing 15-11-2012

Surrogacy is an increasingly common reproductive practice. Today, stories about surrogacy regularly appear in popular culture and news outlets, while the number of organisations offering surrogacy services is clearly on the rise, as is the number of cases involving surrogacy in courts across the EU. Surrogacy raises important legal issues, such as whether surrogacy contracts should be enforceable, as well as questions pertaining to the legal parenthood of a child born to a surrogate mother and his/her citizenship and nationality. There are also significant policy and regulatory concerns relating to: payment; autonomy; child welfare; gender, sexual orientation and socio-economic inequality; reproductive health; and globalisation.