Do the Current UK Laws Governing Surrogacy and Gamete Donation Adequately Protect the Parents and Children, or is Reform Required to Achieve This?

Abstract

The UK laws that cover technologically assisted reproduction are from a time in which these techniques were viewed as taboo and the science behind them was new and under -studied. This article will analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the UK’s surrogacy and gamete donation laws. It explores the extent to which they are lacking and, drawing on laws in other jurisdictions to decide what, if any, reforms are needed to ensure that parents and children that are traversing the UK’s systema are treated fairly and with respect.

The article argues that the reform of laws governing gamete donation were adequate, taking into consideration the changes of the publics’ perception of this and the science that makes it possible. However, there are still areas of gamete donation such as the practice of posthumous gamete donation that necessitate reform. Furthermore, this study argues that the law governing surrogacy is in desperate need for reform. The current system can be seen to encourage a system that can leave women in economically disadvantaged countries at risk of exploitation as well as putting the prospective parents in a legally uncertain situations that the judiciary are forced to address.