International Surrogacy: Payments, Public Policy and Media Hype

Natalie Gamble and Louisa Ghevaert

Gamble and Ghevaert LLP

The international surrogacy case of Re L (Commercial Surrogacy) [2010] EWHC 3146 (Fam) [2011] 1 FLR (forthcoming) attracted front page national headlines in December 2010. It was heralded as a landmark judgment on surrogacy fuelling debate about payments public policy welfare of children and family life. The facts of this case and the reasons why it hit the headlines are compelling in what remains a complex and cutting-edge area of law and practice. Hedley J's reasons for publishing the Re L judgment were twofold. First the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (‘the 2008 Act') had replaced the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (‘the 1990 Act') and this introduced policy changes in relation to international surrogacy applications; and secondly there were still practical issues that were causing difficulties which he felt merited wider publication.

The purpose of the judgment was therefore not to rehearse or examine the facts of the case in detail but to tackle the intersection of public policy against commercial...

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