Throughout the morning we have received numerous calls from different media to be part of today’s discussions on surrogacy in relation to the recent maternity of Ana Obregón.
At Huerga-Abogados we defend this technique of assisted reproduction to the hilt and consider it necessary for all the families we work with in our office. However, we totally disapprove that the way to open debate on surrogacy (misnamed “surrogacy”), is from controversial cases and from a simplistic and frivolous idea of what a surrogacy process involves.
Families who resort to this assisted reproduction technique do not do so on a whim or as a trivial matter. Attempting to equate cases of famous people, emphasizing the most yellowish issues, with the most human reality that we professionals who dedicate ourselves body and soul to this sector face, does a disservice to all our families and to the children born through these assisted reproduction techniques.
In the case of Ana Obregón, the newborn must be protected and all her rights as a full Spanish citizen must be guaranteed. The ethical-social motives or debates in relation to this case are outside our practice and we consider that they can only harm Mrs. Obregón and her newborn.
We hope that cases such as this one, although they do not represent the majority of families, do serve to reopen a realistic debate and for the Government to establish entry criteria to be able to carry out a surrogacy process abroad. To continue denying a reality, to prohibit what is a necessity for many families or to label it as violence against women is a patch that does not solve the social reality that seems to be ahead of our leaders and legislators, who want to deny what is nowadays a totally respectable situation for many families.
Just as there are entry criteria for an adoption or for an assisted reproduction treatment in Spain, there should be the same criteria for a surrogacy process, since it is not legally viable to prohibit a Spanish citizen to carry out a surrogacy process abroad under a legislation that regulates it perfectly and protects the rights of all parties.
