A woman in South Africa has challenged the Surrogacy laws in her country and has asked the Pretoria High Court yesterday to nullify the requirement that there be a genetic link between the baby and at least one of the people commissioning the surrogate pregnancy.
The requirement is a provision of the Children’s Act of 2005 allows surrogate births only where if at least one contributes their gametes.
If the Cape Town woman’s application to the court succeeds, it will end her 13-year battle to have a child.
Since 2001, the 56-year-old woman has undergone 18 in vitro fertilisations and has had two miscarriages.
She claims that the requirement of a genetic link violates a number of her constitutional rights, including those of equality and human dignity, as well as those of others in her position.
She had used her husband’s sperm for the in vitro fertilisations until they divorced.
The woman has been joined in her court application joined in the court bid by the non-profit organisation the Surrogacy Advisory Group, which asserts that the requirement of a genetic link is a human rights violation and is unconstitutional.
The respondent is Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini, who is opposing the application.
The University of Pretoria’s Centre for Child Law has also joined the application. It believes that that the requirement violates constitutional rights but recommends that it be retained except in “exceptional circumstances”.
Dlamini said the genetic link requirement was justified and denied it infringed constitutional rights. She said adoption was an option for the woman and others in her position. Additional reporting by Nomahlubi Jordaan
it is great that Surrogacy is being debated and considered all over the world,in this day and age governments can no longer interfere in the private lives of citizens and keep telling them what to do!!
