Greg DalyA High Court case to determine the legal status of a child born through surrogacy who was later discovered to have no genetic link to the commissioning parents highlights the “contested, ambivalent and undecided character of contemporary kinship arrangements”, a specialist in bioethics has said.
Describing the surrogacy case as “tragic”, David Mullins told The Irish Catholic that its implications cannot be underestimated.
“It will give added impetus to the Minister for Health to introduce his promised legislation aimed at regulating this complex area,” he said, adding, “Indeed the ruling may give him the legal cover he needs to weather any political opposition.”
The case arose after an Irish couple who used a surrogate outside the State sought to bring the child back to Ireland, but on attempting to prove a genetic link with the child, discovered that no such link existed. The child was allowed into the country on humanitarian grounds, and the couple, who were appointed interim guardians of the children, have sought to make the child award of court.
During a November 7 hearing, the President of the High Court, Justice Peter Kelly, said the child’s actual parents would need to be informed of any applications in Ireland regarding the child’s welfare.
He was told that the surrogate mother had consented to the child being made award of court, but Senior Counsel Gerard Durcan said there could be a difficulty in establishing the identity of the child’s father.
The absence of a genetic link between the surrogate parents and the child “highlights the absurdity of believing that regulation as opposed to an outright ban on commercial surrogacy is the appropriate way forward”, Mr Mullins said. Pointing out that jurisdictions where commercial surrogacy is legal typically have regulations to ensure the commissioning parents get what they want, he said that such regulations, in this case, had evidently not been followed.
The case has been adjourned until next month, and will fully resume in January.