Single parent surrogacy in UK

The biggest challenge for unmarried men in this situation is proving legal parentage. If the surrogate mother is not married or in a civil partnership, a single man might be deemed the legal father of the child if no other parent agrees.

However, because sections 42, 43, and 44 of the HFE Act 2008 make no mention of single males, this law is inferred from these parts. Surrogacy in the United Kingdom seldom allows for such a scenario to occur. For one thing, the vast majority of arrangements include non-family third parties and typically entail money.

As a result, a single male may have difficulty achieving the conditions set out in section 54(8) HFEA 2008, which states that no money or other benefit has been supplied or received in exchange for surrogacy. In these circumstances, the single male whose kid was born as a consequence of an IVF/IUI surrogacy arrangement must apply for a parental order or adoption.

Obtaining the Parental Orders

Obtaining parental orders may be a bit complicated for single men in comparison to single women in the UK. The HFE Act 2008’s parental orders were a test of whether or not they infringed on single parents’ human rights. The existing situation of Section 54 (1) and (2) of the HFEA 2008 is incompatible with the human rights guaranteed by Article 14 in connection with Article 8 ECHR, according to the President of the High Court Family Division.

While the concept of a couple has changed over time, it has always been clear that a parental order cannot be obtained by a single person, according to Lord Munby. Parliament made a clear difference between adoption orders and parental orders in 1990 and 2008, deeming it suitable.

When it comes to single parent surrogacy in UK, there is no official law against it. However, even if surrogacy is not technically outlawed in the UK, the HFE Act’s restrictions governing parenting can have an exclusionary impact on single males, even if they are not directly prohibited. If unmarried males are aware of this considerable hurdle to getting a parental order, they will be discouraged from seeking ARTs.

Adoption must be filed by single Parents

Once the surrogacy process has been started and the child has been born, the single parents have to file for the adoption of the kid.

Recent case law and this study reveal that the current legal system violates the single males’ human rights by denying them legal recognition of their biological/genetic link with their kids.

Thus, independent of the WHO, the legal system in the United Kingdom has begun to recognize the rights of single males in fertility therapy, which, at least in the United Kingdom, should be seen as more of a part of the shifting paradigm than as bringing it about.

One may even argue that the low figure is due to legal snags and ambiguities in the framework for fertility treatment law and regulation. The Parliament has received no guidance or help from the courts in passing legislation that complies with European Convention on Human Rights requirements. As a result, additional discussions about how to overcome the aforementioned inconsistencies are essential.