29 February 2012
UK surrogate mother, Jill Hawkins, is pregnant again for a ninth time. Jill, a legal secretary from Brighton aged 47, is due to give birth to her ninth and tenth surrogate babies three weeks before her 48th birthday. Jill spoke of her pride of being a surrogate mother and how fulfilled she felt during pregnancy during a recent press interview.
Jill’s first seven surrogate babies are reported to have been conceived through artificial insemination using her own eggs and the intended father’s sperm. This time round, Jill conceived twins through IVF using the intended parents’ own embryos.
Jill is the most prolific surrogate mother in the UK, following Carole Horlock’s move to France after giving birth to twelve surrogate babies. Jill and I were interviewed about surrogacy law and practice on BBC Breakfast last year (January 2011).
Surrogacy is a restricted legal practice in the UK. There is a public policy restriction against commercial surrogacy and surrogacy contacts are not binding in law. The surrogate mother is treated in law as the child’s legal mother at birth (regardless of biology) and intended parents need to apply to court for a parental order to extinguish the legal status of their surrogate mother and obtain full legal parental status for their child.
Need an expert surrogacy lawyer? If you would like to discuss your family building needs or you would like specialist fertility, surrogacy and family law advice and representation contact Louisa Ghevaert by email louisa@louisaghevaertassociates.co.uk or by telephone +44 (0)20 7965 8399.
