Paris, France. France’s top court ruled on Friday that children born through surrogacy abroad should be recognised in France as the children of their intended parents, even though surrogacy is banned in the country. The decision addresses a longstanding legal uncertainty affecting families who used surrogacy outside France.
Court ruling
The ruling arose from the case of a married male couple who had three children through surrogacy in Canada and sought recognition in France of a Canadian court decision naming them as the children’s legal parents.
In a statement, the court said that, given the superior interest of the child, France’s ban on surrogacy does not by itself justify rejecting a foreign judgment declaring the intended parents to be the legal parents of a child born through surrogacy in that country.
The court also referred to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which said a national ban cannot obstruct the relationship between a child and their intended parents.
The court said that otherwise the child would remain in legal uncertainty, which would be contrary to the child’s best interests.
Safeguards in the Canadian case
The court stressed that Canadian authorities had verified that the surrogate mothers had consented to the surrogacy agreements and had agreed to relinquish their parental rights.
Political debate
France bans surrogacy, an arrangement in which a woman carries and gives birth to a child on behalf of intended parents who are unable to do so themselves. The ban has left many children born through surrogacy abroad and their parents in legal limbo and has created challenges for French courts.
Debate over the ban has intensified after former prime minister and potential presidential candidate Gabriel Attal reportedly said he favoured legalising the practice on an altruistic basis, without remuneration for the surrogate mother.
Aurore Berge, the current minister for gender equality, said women’s bodies and women’s dignity are completely incompatible with surrogacy.
Surrogacy remains a divisive issue in French politics, setting defenders of gay rights against conservatives who support traditional family values, while also dividing women’s rights advocates and libertarians who argue for the right to use one’s own body as one chooses.