More couples seeking British surrogate births

Claire O’Sullivan

The British Cots (Childlessness Overcome Through Surrogacy) Community says 17 Irish couples have had babies through surrogacy in the past 20 years. But this year alone, three babies have already been born.

Cots says enquiries from Ireland have been “getting bigger and bigger” in the past five to 10 years.

It receives about 100 queries from Irish couples each year. About 5% will begin further discussions while about 2% will join the Cots programme.

Cots spokeswoman Jackie Smith, herself a five-time surrogate mother and mother-of-six said, “Some of the women have had hysterectomies after a birth. Many have spent huge sums of money on IVF and still haven’t a baby. There are women who have had cancer and now can’t get pregnant and others who were born without a womb.”

The Cots Community is not a commercial organisation but couples seeking surrogacies can pay up to 15,000 for “reasonable expenses” and the “wear and tear” associated with somebody else undergoing a pregnancy on their behalf.

A woman can be a “straight surrogate”, where her eggs and the intending father’s sperm are used through artificial insemination, or she can carry the couple’s genetic baby if she undergoes IVF. This is known as “host” surrogacy.

Irish clinics do not provide surrogacy services but the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction recommended last May that it should be permitted.

According to Cots, Irish couples have had to adopt the child after surrogate births because a parental order covering British surrogates is not legal here.

Ms Smith believes it is hard for Irish parents when the surrogate lives abroad, as access during the pregnancy is difficult.