Surrogacy
Sometimes, for medical reasons, it is not possible for a woman to become pregnant or to carry a pregnancy to term. In that case, surrogacy can be a solution. Another woman, who is a mother herself and who no longer wishes to expand her family, carries a child for her (and her partner). After the birth, the surrogate mother gives the child to the intended parent(s).
This method of fulfilling the desire to have children involves ethical, emotional, practical and legal dilemmas and problems. Nynke van der Storm and Mindy Mosk can advise you on the legal aspects of surrogacy.
Dutch law prohibits the promotion of commercial surrogacy. Advertising to stimulate supply and demand for surrogacy is prohibited, and intended parents are also not allowed to make it public via social media that they are looking for a surrogate mother or vice versa. This makes it difficult for intended parents in the Netherlands to find a surrogate mother. As a result, the number of international surrogacy cases has increased dramatically over the past 10 years.
International surrogacy
In international surrogacy, the intended parents use a surrogate mother living abroad. In countries such as Ukraine and some states in the US, commercial surrogacy is permitted. The anonymous donation of egg and sperm cells is also often permitted there. The Netherlands finds the use of an anonymous donor undesirable. As far as possible, every child has the right to know his or her parents.
Furthermore, in international surrogacy there is a risk of exploitation of the surrogate mother. Sometimes there is even human trafficking.
Contrary to the information that authorities abroad sometimes provide, in the Netherlands the foreign birth certificate on which the intended parents are listed as parents is not adopted in the Netherlands. This leads to complications in obtaining a Dutch passport. It is therefore important that intended parents seek good advice in advance about the rules abroad and the possibility of travelling to the Netherlands with the child.
Recent developments
On 7 December 2016, the State Commission for the Redefinition of Parenthood presented the report 'Child and parents in the 21and century'. The report contains 68 recommendations on legal parenthood, authority, step-parenthood and surrogacy.
The State Commission wants a legal regulation in the Netherlands that should lead to more legal certainty for all involved and that guarantees that the surrogacy process proceeds carefully. The regulation assumes that at least one of the intended parents has a genetic bond with the child and that at least one of the intended parents and the surrogate mother live in the Netherlands.
On 18 May 2017, the round table discussion on the report of the State Commission took place in the House of Representatives. Various experts gave their reaction to the report.
On June 30, 2023, the (now caretaker) cabinet submitted the bill Child, surrogacy and parentage sent to the Lower House. The bill introduces a regulation for the granting of parenthood after surrogacy within the Netherlands and a regulation for the recognition of parenthood after surrogacy from abroad. The aim here is to provide better protection for the child, the surrogate mother and the intended parents. In connection with this, the intended parental leave and some criminal offences are also proposed. In addition, the bill aims to strengthen the right to information on parentage, to expand the possibilities for terminating parenthood, to abolish the terms for denying parenthood or annulling recognition, and to strengthen the protection of minor parents.
Want to know more about surrogacy? Read here the previously published article by Nynke and Mindy or contact one of them. They will be happy to advise you.
