Surrogacy
Surrogacy is the process through which a women carries to term a child conceived with the egg of another woman. It is most often used to allow women who are unable to carry a child, but whose eggs are viable, to have a genetically-related child. Many surrogacies involve no financial considerations between the parties involved. In other cases there may be an agreement to compensate the surrogate for expenses and, perhaps, lost wages, involved while carrying the child. In still other surrogacies compensation may be agreed to that is more than compensatory.
Some countries prohibit all surrogacy arrangements. In other countries the practice is allowed, but compensation is limited to expenses, and perhaps lost wages. Still other countries have no regulations and market-like conditions prevail.
Table: National policies
The Table shows policies currently in effect regarding surrogacy.
Key
- PROHIBITED: This practice is prohibited by national law or policies having the force of law.
- commercial prohibited: Commercial use of this practice is prohibited by national law or policies having the force of law, but non-commercial use is allowed.
- commercial allowed: Commercial use of this practice is allowed by national law or policies having the force of law.
- permitted: This practice is allowed by national law or policies having the force of law, but policies concerning compensation are unknown.
- unrecognized: Surrogacy contracts are explicitly unrecognized by national law or by other mechanism which carries the force of law.
- no policy: This practice is not addressed by national law or policies having the force of law.
- ?: It is unknown whether this practice is addressed by national law or policies having the force of law.
Note: The categories defined in the key and used in the table characterize the polices in any given country in a broad manner. Consult the page for each country for more detailed accounts of current policies.
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