Surrogacy in Comparative law; With Emphasis on French, Iranian, English and Greek Law

The surrogacy is one of the artificial reproductive technologies through third party interference, which has raised many legal debates. Studying the law of various countries around the world shows a variety of different legislative approaches in this regard. In this paper, I first categorize legal systems around the world in the field of surrogacy. I then review the laws and regulations of four countries, namely France, Iran, England and Greece, regarding the conditions to access surrogacy as well as its effects on the parenthood of the child born. Each of these countries has adopted a different approach to surrogacy agreements. French legislator has adopted a complete prohibition of surrogacy citing moral problems and protection of the rights of women and children involved in this process. In Iran, despite legal silence, this method of reproduction is widely used given its permission by some high religious authorities and its approval by the courts under particular circumstances. In England, a middle ground approach is chosen: surrogacy agreements are lawful but not enforceable, and a judicial intervention after the birth of the child is required in order to transfer parentage to the intended parents. Greek legislator has allowed these agreements to be concluded and declared them enforceable under certain conditions, by choosing a prior judicial control system for surrogacy agreements. This comparative study allows me to examine various legal mechanisms in detail and the results help us to provide effective suggestions to fill the legal gap in Iran. In my view, the model of ex-ante judicial supervision that is used in Iran for infertility treatment with embryo donation is a good alternative to future provisions regarding reproduction through surrogacy. Please cite this article as: Mohseni E. Surrogacy in Comparative law; with Emphasis on French, Iranian, English and Greek Law. Iran J Med Law 2019; 13(48): 111-136.