Madrid (EFE).- Surrogacy is illegal in Spain, but numerous agencies offer their services to rent a womb abroad and then solve the legal obstacles to be able to recognize the baby as their own when they return home.
Article 10 of the law on assisted human reproduction techniques declares null and void the contract for a woman, with or without a price, to provide for a pregnancy and then renounce maternal affiliation in favor of the contracting party or a third party. It makes it clear that the filiation of these children will be determined by the birth.
However, in several countries these contracts are legal. In order to register the child in the registry and be able to travel with him to Spain, a court decision from the country of origin must be provided in which the baby’s parentage is determined. The pregnant woman renounces maternal affiliation in favor of the contracting party.
According to an instruction issued in 2010 by the General Directorate of Registries and Notaries, the person in charge of the consular registry must also verify that the best interest of the minor has not been violated, nor the rights of the surrogate mother and, above all, verify that the woman’s consent has been freely and voluntarily obtained.
In a ruling handed down last April, the Supreme Court made it clear that surrogacy contracts are null and void because they violate the fundamental rights of the pregnant woman and the gestated child and confirmed that the recognition of the filiation relationship to the non-biological mother must be obtained through adoption.
The recent reform of the abortion law included surrogacy as a form of violence against women, but no major obstacles have been imposed to register children gestated abroad.
In that debate, only Ciudadanos spoke in favor of this practice, appealing to the freedom of women to decide.
Finally, in the reform of the abortion law, only a specific article was included to prohibit the commercial promotion and advertising of surrogacy, although a simple search on the internet shows the numerous agencies that continue to offer their intermediation services to rent a womb. abroad.
The prices of the packages offered move in a wide range that can go from 50,000 euros in Eastern European countries to 100,000 in the United States or Canada.