April 19, 2024

Campaign for ‘fertility equality’ begins in Israel

Michael Cook

On Wednesday Israeli Health minister Yael German announced her plans to liberalize her country’s fertility law. Amongst her sweeping reforms, German wants to allow same-sex couples to become parents with the help of an Israeli surrogate mother.

On Wednesday Israeli Health minister Yael German announced her plans to liberalize her country’s fertility law. Amongst her sweeping reforms, German wants to allow same-sex couples to become parents with the help of an Israeli surrogate mother. The minister will introduce a bill next year.

German wants provide ‘fertility equality’ for all individuals: “Everyone has the right to parenthood and there should be no discrimination between a woman who wants to be a mother and a man who wants to be a father,” she said.

The new legislative program comes in the wake of the 2012 findings of the Public Commission for the Evaluation of Fertility and Childbirth. German has adopted all but a few of the recommendations from this report.

Amongst other changes, German wants to allow married men and women to seek fertility treatment with another individual without their spouse knowing.

The minister did not go as far as saying surrogates could be paid for their services.

Though German wants to make surrogacy more legally available, Israel is currently suffering from a shortage of surrogate mothers. From 2007 to 2012, 313 Israelis found surrogate mothers abroad, compared to only 228 in Israel. The imbalance has become even worse recently. In 2012, 126 went through the process abroad, while only 41 did so in Israel.

Xavier Symons
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