A Tel Aviv family court set a legal precedent this week when it ruled that a woman whose eggs were used in a surrogate birth is the child’s legal mother. Until now, legal ambiguities forced women who used gestational surrogates to adopt their own children.

A Tel Aviv family court set a legal precedent this week when it ruled that a woman whose eggs were used in a surrogate birth is the child’s legal mother. Until now, legal ambiguities forced women who used gestational surrogates to adopt their own children.

Several months ago “N” and her husband became parents of twins when a gestational surrogate from the Republic of Georgia gave birth. N had faced a difficult pregnancy with her first child and doctors told her a second would be too risky. Since the twins were born, N has been waiting in Georgia for her parental status to be clarified. N and her husband, like hundreds of other Israeli couples, used an overseas surrogate to save money.

But while the legal status of surrogate children born in Israel was clarified in 1996, those born overseas have been in a grey area until now. The Interior Ministry responded to the uncertainty by requiring the biological mothers to adopt the surrogate children when they returned to Israel. Judge Shifra Glick, who issued the ruling, said in her verdict:  “that a biological mother must adopt her natural children, is intolerable and defies common sense.” ~ Haaretz.com, Mar 7

Israeli mothers no longer have to adopt babies born via surrogate
Jared Yee
adoption
Israel
law
surrogacy

• Author
• Recent Posts

Mumbai

Latest posts by Mumbai (see all)

• Prescribe morning-after pills to young teenagers, say US pediatric group - November 30, 2012
• Bahrain sentences protest docs to prison - November 28, 2012
• Terry Pratchett assisted suicide documentary wins International Emmy - November 27, 2012