Surrogate granted limited parental visitation rights by UK court, rejecting genetic connection

In the surrogacy world, one of the worst case scenarios for intended parents is that the surrogate will change her mind and try to keep the baby. Although statistically, it is actually more likely that the intended parents will change their mind, and try to abandon the baby.

…

[Recently] a British court ruled against a surrogate who attempted to keep the baby she carried for a gay couple. That’s at least some good news. However, the court muddied the waters.  It granted the surrogate limited parental rights to the child, and ruled that the surrogate would be entitled to six visitations with the child per year.

…

This case would have been much less of a struggle in the US, where many states (like California, Nevada, and Illinois) recognize parental rights based on the intent of the parties. American courts also tend to find a significant legal differences between traditional (or genetic) surrogacy – where the surrogate is genetically related to the baby she carries – versus gestational surrogacy, where the baby has no genetic relationship to the surrogate.

Not so across the pond. There, surrogacy agreements are unenforceable, and a lawyer who negotiates one may even face criminal charges.

Read full, original post: Surrogate Tries To Keep Baby, Court Doesn’t Care About Genetics