The Law Commissions' Consultation on Surrogacy

Overview

This is a joint public consultation by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission.

The Law Commissions are reviewing the law and regulation of surrogacy. Surrogacy is the practice of a woman (the "surrogate") agreeing to become pregnant, and deliver a baby, with the intention of handing him or her over shortly after birth to another set of parents (the "intended parents"), who will care for, and raise, the child.

For more information about this project, click here (Law Commission of England and Wales) or here (Scottish Law Commission).

We recommend that you read the Consultation Paper before responding to the consultation. A shorter summary is also available.

• You can read our full Consultation Paper here; and
• You can read the summary of our preliminary consultation paper here.

The references in this online consultation to chapters and paragraphs are references to these in the full Consultation Paper.

To start answering our consultation questions, please click on the link at the bottom of this page.

FAQs

Do I have to answer all the questions? We are aware that our Consultation Paper is lengthy, and that this form asks a lot of questions. You do not need to answer all the questions if you are only interested in some aspects of the consultation. We encourage you to share your views with us regardless of the level of your legal or technical knowledge.

Do I have to complete the form all at once? You do not need to complete all of your answers in one go. You can save and return to the form at any time.

Will I get confirmation of my response once I submit it? You will get confirmation of your submission, in addition to a PDF version of your response, after you submit the form.

Do I have to use this online form? Responses to our consultation questions can be in any format and do not need to be submitted via this online platform. However, we recommend using this online platform because it assists us to efficiently compile your answers.

Who are the Law Commissions? The Law Commissions are statutory bodies for the purpose of promoting the reform of the law. The Law Commissions are independent of Government. For more information about the Law Commission of England and Wales please click here. For more information about the Scottish Law Commission, please click here.

How will my responses to this consultation be treated by you? We may publish or disclose information you provide us in response to this consultation, including personal information. For more information on how we consult and how we may use responses to the consultation, please see page i and ii of the Consultation Paper.

We ask consultees, when providing their responses, if they could avoid including personal identifying information in the text of their response, particularly where this may reveal the identities of other people involved in their surrogacy arrangement.

For information about how we handle your personal data, please see our privacy notice.