The number of children a couple already has is not a sufficient reason to reject a surrogate motherhood application, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled this week.
The
number of children a couple already has is not a sufficient reason to reject a
surrogate motherhood application, Israel’s
High Court of Justice ruled this week. A married woman with three children, now
38 years old, had sought permission for a surrogate to carry a child for her
and her husband. In 2007 she had a hysterectomy after her third child. A
surrogacy approval committee rejected the request for a fourth child, on the
grounds that surrogacy was only appropriate for childless applicants.

The
couple argued that parenthood is a fundamental right, and therefore they should
not be refused the possibility of using advanced medical technology to bring
children into the world. A lower court rejected their application last year,
saying that directives issued to the surrogacy board by the attorney general over
10 years ago defined two children as the fulfilment of a family’s right to
parenthood.

This
was the first time that the High Court had ruled on a decision of the surrogacy
board. “We heard from the court that the board is not God and cannot determine
how many children are ‘sufficient’ for a couple to have,” said the couple’s
lawyer. “Let us hope that this verdict heralds the creation of new life.” ~ Haaretz, Jul 27

Surrogate motherhood not only for barren parents: Israel court
Jared Yee
Israel
surrogacy

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