Joint Report by Scottish and English Law Reform Commissions on Surrogacy

The Scottish Law Commission and the Law Commission of England and Wales have published a joint report on surrogacy.

It comes in three parts:

• a Core Report
• a Full Report
• a Draft Surrogacy Bill

Surrogacy is where a woman – the surrogate – bears a child on behalf of someone else or a couple, who intend to become the child’s legal parents.

The main focus of the suggested reforms involves screening before conception, allowing meaningful scrutiny at an early stage by a regulated surrogacy organization, rather than the current law, which only involves scrutiny by the court after the child is born. The reforms would respect the autonomy of the surrogate – if she withdraws her consent, the courts will make the final decision on parental status. 

The recommendations would also ensure that surrogacy remains non-commercial by prohibiting payments to the surrogate for carrying or delivering the child, ensuring that surrogacy agreements remain unenforceable, and requiring surrogacy organizations to operate on a non-profit-making basis.