NGA on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour on surrogacy

Natalie Gamble was delighted to be interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour on Friday 19 June 2009 on the subject of surrogacy.

The item, chaired by Jennie Murray, looked at the rights of commissioning mothers to leave from work following the birth of a child through surrogacy. Unlike mothers who give birth and mothers who adopt, mothers who have a child through surrogacy do not have rights equivalent to maternity leave. This is part of the wider set up of surrogacy law in the UK, whereby all the status of parenthood vests in the surrogate mother at birth, and the intended parents only acquire legal rights and responsibilities at a much later stage.

Natalie was interviewed on the programme as a legal expert on surrogacy law, and explained how the law works, not just in relation to employment leave, but also more widely for parents conceiving through surrogacy.

Also interviewed were Lisa, a new mum through surrogacy whose daughter Zoe had been born just the night before the interview and who movingly shared her experience of having a baby through surrogacy, and Kim Palmer from Surrogacy UK who is mum to a 2 year old daughter through surrogacy and eloquently explained the problems experienced by many intended parents in surrogacy situations.

Listen to Radio 4 Woman’s Hour on surrogacy.