Switzerland, Inter-Country Surrogacy and Public Policy

On 21 May 2015 the Swiss Federal Court (1) refused to register a male couple - who are in a civil partnership and living in Saint-Gallen, Switzerland - as the legal fathers of a child born following an inter-country surrogacy arrangement.

The background to this case is that the child was born in California to a gestational surrogate, with one of the intending fathers providing the sperm, which was used to fertilise an egg from an anonymous donor. With the consent of the surrogate, and following a judgment of a Californian court, the intending fathers were named as the legal parents and their names were recorded in the child's US birth certificate. The family returned to Switzerland and took steps to be recognised as the child's legal parents.

SOURCES & REFERENCES

(1) 5A_748/2014