High Court judge approves commercial surrogacy

Laws in the UK are designed to try to prevent such arrangements, but Mr Justice Hedley said his paramount concern was the welfare of the child.

The most recent case the judge approved was last month, involving a baby born to a surrogate in the Ukraine.

The judge said he was "extremely anxious" about the current situation.

In Britain, the judge said, the only payment allowed to a surrogate mother was one of "reasonable expenses".

However, he has agreed to give retrospective approval for commercial surrogacy on at least four occasions.

"The statute does give power to the High Court retrospectively to authorise these payments and the reason we do so is not because we want to encourage commercial surrogacy but because of the impossible position which the child born as a result of the arrangement finds themselves in when they're back in this country," he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One.

Legal systems

Mr Justice Hedley, who specialises in family law, said it was important to highlight the issue because people were "getting into a mess unnecessarily"...