Surrogacy

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A surrogacy arrangement is the practice whereby a woman carries a child for another person with the intention that the child should be handed over at birth to the commissioning couple or party and raised as theirs. The key provisions for such arrangements are contained in the:

  1. •

    Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985 (SAA 1985)

  2. •

    Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (HFEA 2008)

  3. •

    Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Parental Orders) Regulations 2010, SI 2010/985 (SI 2010/985), revoked by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Parental Orders) Regulations 2018, SI 2018/1412 (SI 2018/1412), and

  4. •

    Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (Remedial) Order 2018, SI 2018/1413 (SI 2018/1413)

The Law Commission consultation paper on surrogacy reform, ‘Building families through surrogacy: a new law’, made provisional proposals to improve surrogacy laws to better support the child, surrogates and intended parents. See: Surrogacy—general principles—Law Commission consultation.

Surrogacy—general principles

There are different types of surrogacy: total, gestational, and partial. See: Definitions and types of surrogacy.

SAA 1985 provides that in determining whether an arrangement is a surrogacy arrangement

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