Couple who had baby via US surrogate petition UK Parliament

A male same-sex couple whose daughter was born through surrogacy has launched a petition to change the UK's surrogacy laws.

Adam Frisby and Jamie Corbett chose to have their child in the USA because they wanted to be recognised as their baby's legal parents from birth, which US law permits. However, under UK law, the surrogate remains the legal parent until they complete a court process to obtain a parental order.

'You have to do endless amounts of paperwork,' Frisby told ITV's This Morning programme. 'We have to go to a high court, get a parental order. So it's just a big process that, really, as new parents, we shouldn't have to go through. You know, we should be recognised, especially in 2026, just like every other parent is for their child.'

The couple has started a UK parliamentary petition which has gained more than 100,000 signatures, meaning that Parliament must now consider it for debate, as well as provide a written response.

The UK's surrogacy laws have not been significantly revised since 1985, and are widely considered outdated (see BioNews 948 and 1326). The Law Commissions of Scotland, and of England and Wales, jointly conducted an in-depth review into the subject, and their findings, including a draft bill, were published in 2023 (see BioNews 1185a and 1185b). However, in 2025, a letter from a health minister to the law commissions said: 'The Government is unable to prioritise surrogacy reform and do not intend to put forward these legislative proposals at the current time,' (see BioNews 1289).

The Bill included a suggested pathway in which intended parents could be named legal parents from the birth of their child if they and their surrogate followed a series of best-practice steps, such as receiving independent advice prior to conception.

The changes proposed in the Bill would not apply to couples who had surrogacy overseas, and so would not be directly relevant to Frisby and Corbett's situation. However, as the couple said they chose to go abroad for the legal protections that the bill would have offered them if it became law, it might have encouraged Frisby and Corbett to pursue domestic surrogacy instead.

'Surrogacy reform is long overdue, to codify existing good practice in the UK and to formalise safeguards for all involved, in the best interests of children, surrogates and families,' surrogacy law expert Professor Kirsty Horsey, from Loughborough University, told BioNews. 'This petition shows that demand for reform isn't going to go away and that there appears to be a great deal of support for it among the public.'