Law Commission to publish its final surrogacy law reform recommendations on 29 March 2023

The Law Commission has announced that its final report (and draft Bill) on surrogacy law reform will be released next Wednesday, 29th March 2023. Eagerly awaited, publication has been pushed back several times from the original date of 2021, in part due to the volume of responses received to the nearly 400 page consultation document published by the Law Commission in 2019.

You can read more about the provisional proposals and the NGA Law and Brilliant Beginnings response to them here: Law Commission surrogacy law review.

This will not be the final destination on surrogacy law reform

It is important to stress that next Wednesday’s report is the start of a path ahead, and that law reform itself is still some way away.

The Law Commission report will recommend to the government how it thinks UK surrogacy law should be updated. From there, the government will need to decide whether to adopt its recommendations, and if so whether to devote Parliamentary time to making new law. If it does, there will be a Parliamentary process to consider the draft Bill in detail, which will take time, and may involve further changes to any proposals. After that there is also likely to be a period of time for implementing any law that is passed and working out the practical detail (such as the detail of any new regulatory framework).

We are therefore unlikely to see substantive law change for any children conceived in the short term future, and there is still a long way to go.

We will be here to support you

NGA Law and Brilliant Beginnings have been intimately involved in campaigning for surrogacy law reform since 2007, and remain devoted to advocating for the interests of surrogates and all UK families created through surrogacy (both those following surrogacy journeys in the UK and those conceiving through international surrogacy).

As always, we will be here to answer your questions and to guide you through everything you need to know about surrogacy law reform, including the impact of the Law Commission’s recommendations in practice, and what is likely to happen when.

And we may need your support – whether you are a family affected by surrogacy or professionals working in the field – to make sure the UK achieves sensible modern law supporting surrogacy for future generations.

Stay tuned!