# Surrogacy in the UK as a single person



## Violet66 (Dec 28, 2007)

Is it just a complete non-starter? 

Having done a small amount of research I am getting that distinct impression!


----------



## seemedlike4eva (Jan 26, 2010)

I looked into it a couple of years ago, I had someone willing to do it - using her eggs, and donor sperm, but my interpretation of the legal stuff was that for a surrogacy arrangement there has to be at least one biological link to the child, and the court can ask for a DNA test. Otherwise, it is classed as a private adoption if someone has a baby for you, on a double donor basis, and it's subject to the social services adoption process. We're married, but rubbish sperm n eggs, but when we saw that the court could demand DNA evidence to issue the legalise everything it put us off, we'd planned to say DH was father, and couldn't face Social services.
That was in 2008, so hopefully things have changed. Good Luck with your quest.


----------



## ♥JJ1♥ (Feb 11, 2006)

Violet I can empathise where you are coming from as in a similar boat, pm Natalie/Louise as they will give your the legal line.
L x


----------



## Violet66 (Dec 28, 2007)

oh dear - they don't make it easy for us do they?


----------



## NatGamble (Mar 1, 2007)

I know - it's appalling.  When the HFE Bill (as it then was) was going through Parliament in 2008, I drafted in an amendment which would have made the applicants for a parental order the same as for adoption i.e. including married, unmarried and same sex couples and single parents.  Had it gone through, you single ladies would have been in the same position as everyone else doing surrogacy, provided you were able to use your own eggs to conceive.  Sadly though, the government rejected the amendment (the logic being that surrogacy was such a serious undertaking that it should only be done by couples   ).  It makes no sense to me, given that single women can adopt, have donor insemination (the law was at the same time specifically amended to allow that!) and otherwise generally bring up children very well.

Nothing is ever impossible, though, and there are two theoretically workable routes I can see to doing surrogacy legally as a single woman:
1) By applying, in advance, for adoption, so that you can ultimately use adoption as an alternative to a parental order and become the sole legal parent.  (This is tricky and you would need a supportive local authority).
2) By conceiving with an unmarried surrogate at a clinic in the UK and getting named as the second parent on the birth certificate.  (This would potentially make subsequent applications to restrict the surrogate's status easier, and in the meantime would make you a parent so that there was no compulsion upon you to take these steps).

Neither is straightforward - and to my knowledge neither has yet been done - so no guarantees it would work, but it may be worth exploring further. 

For what it's worth, we will also keep plugging away to try and get the law changed...

Natalie


----------



## Violet66 (Dec 28, 2007)

Natalie,

Thank you for such a detailed response, I really appreciate that. 

Because of my age I would need donor eggs - just to complicate matters even further. 

To be honest it seems to legally fraught for me to even consider and after all the disappointment of the failed IVF cycles I don't think I would risk it.


----------

