- The Iona Institute - https://ionainstitute.ie -

France seeks opinion of European Court of Human rights on surrogacy

A French Court has asked for an advisory opinion from the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on surrogacy law [1]. The practice is illegal in France and the country even places restrictions on the practice of couples who engage in surrogacy arrangements in other countries and then bring a child back to France. Specifically, the country refuses to issue new birth certs naming the commissioning couple as the parents of a child born of surrogacy in a foreign country. That was appealed to the European Court of Human Rights and the Court ruled that the commissioning couple’s rights were not contravened. However, in respect of the children, the Court ruled that they should have their genetically related father registered as their father. Several reviews of the case followed in domestic French courts. Now, the French Court of Cassation has asked for an advisory opinion of the non-genetically related “commissioning mother.”