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Should advertising for surrogacy be legal? |
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Tuesday, 15 February 2005 |
For couples that cannot have children either naturally or through IVF,
surrogacy can sometimes be their only hope of having a family.
But did
you know that it can take anything up to 2 years to find a suitable
surrogate in the UK? It is illegal to advertise in this country so the
only real option is to go with one of the 2 surrogacy "agencies" in the
UK. They expect to be paid additional fees, on top of those that will
be paid to the surrogate for her expenses. Although they are very
helpful and do provide additional support if so required, the couple
pay for it either way, there is no choice, and there is still no
guarantee of them finding a surrogate.
With no advertising in the UK, surrogacy is fairly unknown by the
general public. This results in there being a real shortage of
surrogates. In the US surrogacy is well known and accepted, and there
is really no shortage - it certainly does not take 2 years to find one!
Most other countries where surrogacy is legal (as it is in the UK),
advertising for a surrogate or Intended Parents is also legal. And if
it's legal to advertise for an egg/sperm donor over here, why on earth
is it not legal to advertise for a surrogate?!
I have posted a poll on whether advertising for a surrogate should be
legal in the UK at [CLICK HERE].
If there is a large enough response I hope to forward the results to my
MP. Hopefully this will start the ball rolling. I would also like to
get a group together to lobby parliament with the intention of making
this subject more prominent, and hopefully we can create a change to
this ridiculous law!
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