New legislation is crucial for surrogacy
Surrogacy has a long history, but the Netherlands lacks legislation in this area. This is badly needed, university lecturers Kartica van der Zon and Daisy Smeets argue in regional newspaper 'Leidsch Dagblad': ‘We don't know what goes on abroad.’
Currently, when a child is born, a surrogate mother is the legal mother. The transfer of parenthood can sometimes take up to two years. This has many consequences for those referred to as the intended or commissioning parents. For example, they don't receive child benefit, they're not allowed to make medical decisions and permission must be sought from the surrogate mother for all kinds of things. Smeets: ‘If you want to go on holiday, you need the surrogate mother's signature. You constantly feel you're not recognised as a parent.'
According to the researchers, legislation is badly needed. Commissioning parents would then become the legal parents immediately when the child is born. Yet this does not solve all the problems. International surrogacy routes in particular remain problematic, the researchers argue. 'There are mediation agencies that offer Black Friday discounts and multiple birth guarantees. Then you're getting dangerously close to buying children,' says Van der Zon. Given the adoption ban earlier this year, it doesn't appear these surrogacy routes will decrease: ‘... even though we don't know what goes on abroad.’
More information
Read the full article (in Dutch) in Leidsch Dagblad (€)
Photo: Alicia Petresc on Unsplash