The UK government has warned British nationals to take care if considering fertility treatment or surrogacy in Northern Cyprus.
Warning re fertility treatment in Northern Cyprus
FCDO guidance now says:
“Fertility treatment in the north of Cyprus carries risks as clinics are not regulated in the same way as in the UK.”
The new advice follows BBC reports that at least 30 British families who conceived children through egg and sperm donation in Northern Cyprus were given the wrong donors, in what now looks like deception or negligence rather than error. The professionals named in the scandal are the Dogus Fertility Clinic, Dr Sevket Alpturk and Dr Firdevs Uguz Tip who now works at Miracle IVF.
There is more information about this story here: IVF staff accused of misleading UK parents about donors at northern Cyprus clinics – BBC News
Warning re surrogacy in Northern Cyprus
In relation to surrogacy, the FCDO now warns:
“Pursuing surrogacy in the north carries risks as clinics are not regulated and there is no legal framework governing arrangements. Legal transfer of parenthood can be complex as the birth mother is given automatic parental responsibility. Obtaining birth certificates can also be complicated and may take a long time. Before entering into any surrogacy arrangements:
- read FCDO and Home Office guidance on surrogacy overseas
- fully research hospitals and clinics to ensure they are safe and reputable
- seek specialist legal advice both in the UK and in Cyprus.”
This advice follows several High Court judgments which have criticised international surrogacy arrangements brokered by agencies operating in Northern Cyprus, usually with the births taking place in other countries.
In the latest such case published in June, Mrs Justice Knowles described how a single father was told that his Kyrgyzstani surrogate, pregnant following fertility treatment in Northern Cyprus, could give birth to his child anywhere in the world. In practice, it was not possible to get a visa to enable her to travel to Greece to give birth, and the agency then recommended either Moldova or Serbia (despite there being no legal framework for surrogacy in Moldova and a Serbian lawyer having advised against it). She ultimately gave birth prematurely in Kyrgyzstan, where she was from, and the father later found out that the surrogacy contract was contrary to Kyrgyz law. The resulting difficulties obtaining documents and a passport for the baby girl led to her not being able to return to the UK with her father for nearly two years.
Mrs Justice Knowles sharply criticised “the glib assurances by this agency” which caused “legal uncertainty, if not downright illegality” and emphasised the “dangers of embarking on an international surrogacy journey without the benefit of having taken independent legal advice”. She described the father as having “acted naively in relying on legal advice proffered by commercial organisations which themselves showed a wanton disregard for the legal situation”.
This is not the first case of this kind from Northern Cyprus, nor the first time the High Court has taken the unusual step of naming the overseas professionals involved. Full Success Medical Consulting and Dogus IVF have now twice been identified in High Court judgments, and Dogus IVF is the same clinic named by the BBC in the donor conception scandal (see Three High Court judgments warn of risky surrogacy practices in Cyprus and urge intended parents to exercise caution – NGA Law).
We thoroughly endorse the warnings of the High Court and the Foreign Office and urge any parents considering surrogacy or fertility treatment in Northern Cyprus to think very carefully, and to take independent legal advice, before proceeding. International surrogacy can be, and should be, managed legally and ethically. It is a way to conceive much-wanted children who would otherwise never be born, but it carries responsibility to ensure the surrogate and child are properly safeguarded and that proper processes, and the law, are correctly followed. There are sharks in the water so beware.
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