ABSTRACT

In the earlier chapter on assisted reproduction, the ‘new’ reproductive technology and surrogacy, a range of legal and ethical issues surrounding the ‘new’ reproductive technology or reproductive medicine, with special emphasis on the law and practice of surrogacy in the UK, were examined. Apart from looking at the main English cases, we alluded to the leading American case of Re M (1988) 109 NJ 396; (1988) 537 NJ 396 (Baby M) and the legislative responses to the problem of surrogacy in the UK. Professor Margaret Brazier comments that Europeans have, for the most part, ‘firmly rejected trade in body parts or bodily services’ because they adhere wholeheartedly to Art 21 of the Bioethics Convention (the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with the Application of Medicine and Biology (Council of Europe, 1997) (see Brazier (1999), p 346). Hence, it is really the American and Australian jurisdictions that currently present examples of noteworthy legal developments in the area of surrogacy, and countries like France which provide examples of rejection of the commercial surrogacy model.