John Healey MP will be presenting a Ten Minute Rule Bill in Parliament next Tuesday 17 April calling for improved maternity rights for intended parents through surrogacy. Surrogacy UK and Natalie Gamble Associates have supported John in getting this Bill to this position by providing information on the increasing prevalence of surrogacy and the difficulties suffered by intended parents receiving maternity leave.
Currently parents who have a baby through surrogacy have no legal rights to time off work or to maternity pay, even though they are caring for their own biological child in the first months of his or her life. This is very different from parents who give birth or adopt a child, who are entitled to maternity or adoption pay and around a year off work to bond with their new child.
As those who follow our Blog will know, this is an issue that we have been campaigning on for many years and we are delighted that it is finally being debated in Parliament. Although the chance of a Ten Minute Rule Bill becoming law is statistically small, this is an important step towards putting this problem on the Parliamentary map.
The Bill will be screened live on on Tuesday 17th in the afternoon; you should be able to catch it on the Parliament TV channel or on the web: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/main/home.aspx. We will update the Blog with news as things go forward.
Find out more about surrogacy law and our campaigning on this issue:
Radio 4 Women’s hour, 3 June 2011 – Interview with Natalie Should surrogacy law be changed?
Natalie writing in The Guardian, 29 December 2010 – After the birth of Elton and David’s son, can the UK deliver surrogacy reform?
Evening Standard, 27 October 2009 – Ministers face a legal challenge over rules barring women who use a surrogate from receiving maternity pay
Medical News today, 28 December 2008 – Leading fertility patient organisations call for urgent changes to surrogacy law
Bionews, 28 April 2008 – Why UK surrogacy law needs an urgent review
The UK’s leading surrogacy lawyers
Find out more about how we support families through surrogacy
