Crossing the line: the legal and ethical problems of foreign surrogacy

Abstract

UK law has for many years taken a careful approach to surrogacy, neither banning it nor allowing it to develop unrestrictedly. This careful middle approach seeks to balance permitting what may be a last hope for infertile couples against a wider public policy that bars commercialized reproduction: surrogacy is allowed in the UK, provided it is consensual and involves the payment of no more than reasonable expenses. But in an increasingly globalized world, patients are crossing borders for treatment, often to places where such restrictions on the commerciality or enforceability of surrogacy arrangements do not apply. The resulting conflicts of law can be a minefield, and this makes the maintenance of the UK's careful legal balance increasingly untenable.