The more things change, the more they stay the same: findings of the Surrogacy UK Working Group on Surrogacy Law Reform and recommendations for the future

Dr Bianca Jackson, Family law barrister, Coram Chambers

This article examines the findings of the Surrogacy UK Working Group on Surrogacy Law Reform in its most recent report. The report highlights that UK surrogacy law has failed to keep pace with the growing use of surrogacy despite a decade of calls for reform. Survey findings show that most surrogates, intended parents and their partners support the UK’s altruistic surrogacy model, reject commercial surrogacy and enforceable contracts, but strongly favour recognising intended parents as legal parents from birth and introducing better regulation. Notwithstanding broad support, amending surrogacy laws remains a low priority for the current government, which has significant implications for intended parents, surrogates, and children borne through surrogacy.