The ‘commercialisation of reproduction’: Desperate infertile couples are paying up to £60,000 to have babies through surrogate mothers in the UK
- The huge sums are more than double the average full-time salary of £28,000
- Surrogate mothers in the UK are legally allowed to get ‘reasonable expenses’
- Courts can and do allow bigger sums if it is in the best interests of the child
- Critics have hit out at the potential cost of having a baby through a surrogate
Desperate couples are spending up to £60,000 to have babies through surrogate mothers giving birth in the UK, a conference was told.
The huge sums – more than double the average full-time salary of £28,000 – come despite a ban on commercial surrogacy.
Surrogate mothers in the UK are legally allowed to receive ‘reasonable expenses’ for carrying a pregnancy and giving birth.
Courts judge what ‘reasonable expenses’ are when transferring the parenting rights from the surrogate mother to the intended parents.
But courts can, and do, allow bigger sums if it is considered in the best interests of the child.
Critics yesterday hit out at the potential cost of having a baby through a surrogate and said it shows the ‘commercialisation of reproduction’.
The huge sums – more than double the average full-time salary of £28,000 – come despite a ban on commercial surrogacy (stock)
Natalie Smith, a trustee of the non-profit organisation Surrogacy UK, said the £60,000 figure was not typical – and may well involve payments beyond ‘reasonable expenses’.
She told the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology [ESHRE] that the average payment made to surrogates in Britain was between £10,000 and £15,000, with some women not accepting payment at all.
Speaking at ESHRE, she said: ‘I think generally a court would accept anything up to £20,000.
‘Although there might be one or two payments over that range, the majority of people do follow the reasonable expenses model.
‘But [the system] does give is a bit of wiggle room I guess so that if the interests, the welfare of the child does trump everything else so that if someone does pay more than reasonable expenses the judge does have some flexibility.
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‘I think that’s important because welfare of the child must trump everything. Even though I feel very strongly about not supporting commercial payments.’
Natalie, who was born without a womb, had two babies with Jenny French, a healthcare worker from Cambridgeshire, who has had six babies as a surrogate.
The figure of £60,000 was uncovered in a study by Kent University, based on 177 responses from parents whose babies were born via surrogates.
The £60,000 figure covers ‘total costs incurred’ by couples having babies through surrogacy in the UK, which includes payment to the surrogate as well as medical expenses and legal fees.
HOW COMMON IS SURROGACY IN THE UK?
Surrogacy is becoming more common in the UK – with legal applications relating to surrogacy having risen six-fold in ten years.
In 2007, there were only 55 parental order applications in England – the process where legal parenthood is transferred from the surrogate to the intended parents. This rose to 316 in 2016.
The Department of Health and Social Care has said the rise reflects a ‘broadening diversity of families, with more LGTBQ+ couples and people with fertility difficulties turning to surrogacy’.
Some hospitals have insisted surrogates hand over their baby to intended parents in hospital car parks – for fear the hospitals could be caught up in legal disputes over the parenting rights of the child.
But DoH guidance states ‘there is no reason why the “hand over” of the baby to the intended parents should take place outside hospital premises and hospital staff should not suggest this’.
Surrogacy is becoming more common in the UK – with legal applications relating to surrogacy having risen six-fold in ten years.
In 2007, there were only 55 parental order applications in England – the process where legal parenthood is transferred from the surrogate to the intended parents. This rose to 316 in 2016.
The Department of Health and Social Care has said the rise reflects a ‘broadening diversity of families, with more LGTBQ+ couples and people with fertility difficulties turning to surrogacy’.
Some hospitals have insisted surrogates hand over their baby to intended parents in hospital car parks – for fear the hospitals could be caught up in legal disputes over the parenting rights of the child.
But DoH guidance states ‘there is no reason why the “hand over” of the baby to the intended parents should take place outside hospital premises and hospital staff should not suggest this’.
The guidance says parents should undertake surrogacy in the UK rather than going abroad.
It also suggests avoiding ‘risky, informal arrangements’, that ‘money should not be a motivation for surrogacy’.
It advises intending parents should use one of three approved agencies, including Surrogacy UK, COTS and Brilliant Beginnings.
Surrogacy has been regulated in the UK since the Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985. This legislation was the response to the recommendations of the Warnock Committee Report in 1984, which came out strongly against surrogacy, particularly any commercial aspects of the practice.
The Act banned advertising for or as a surrogate and made it a criminal offence for a third party to procure a surrogacy arrangement.
Critics said that the huge amounts paid to become surrogate parents risk that ‘children will be seen as commodities’.
Norman Wells, from the Family Education Trust, said: ‘It is difficult to see how the commercialisation of reproduction can ever be in the best interests of the child.
‘It is adults who control the market and therefore it will always be adults who stand to gain from it.
‘Whenever reproduction is removed from the natural order, it is inevitable that some people will try to cash in on it and children will be seen as commodities and a means to the end of making a small fortune.’
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