A Westminster Hall debate on surrogacy took place on 7 September triggered by an e-petition. Earlier this year Adam Frisby and Jamie Corbett launched a petition urging the UK Government to reform surrogacy laws so that intended parents are automatically recognized as their child’s legal parents from birth (see BioNews).
PET director, Sarah Norcross, and PET volunteer, Iona Aylwin, (pictured above) attended the debate. They sat sandwiched between anti-surrogacy campaigners and Adam and Jamie.
It seemed clear that most parliamentarians taking part in the debate had not actually read the Law Commissions' proposals for reform and had had little if any contact with surrogates and intended parents. Surrogates were largely painted as vulnerable women, who don't know their own minds. MPs with these views thought that surrogates would be better protected under the current law.
Some MPs, however, were better informed - Jess Brown-Fuller, Rachel Taylor and Josh Newbury made the case for reforming the UK's 40-year-old law, highlighting the extra checks and safeguards that the Law Commissions have proposed, including the regulation of surrogacy agencies.
Unfortunately, the Government had signalled ahead of the debate that they would not take any action and this proved to be the case.
The Minister, Dame Diana Johnson, in her summing up said
'I hear loud and clear the calls for legislative change this afternoon but, given the limited parliamentary time available, the Government are not in a position to bring forward legislation on surrogacy reform immediately. We will, however, continue to consider options for future reform, and we remain engaged with the issues raised by stakeholders, parliamentarians and families with lived experience of surrogacy.'
However, the Government still needs to publish its full response to the Law Commissions' proposals for surrogacy law reform which were published in 2023. The Minister made no commitment as to when this will be done. Instead, she simply stated that the Government would 'respond in due course as time allows'.
This Westminster Hall debate on surrogacy has at least kept surrogacy on the Government's to do list.