New maternity leave rules risk excluding parents through surrogacy abroad

Natalie has written a comment piece for this week’s Bionews urging the government to ensure that the new maternity leave rules will benefit parents through international as well as UK surrogacy.

We are concerned that the current proposal (that leave should start only from entry to the UK rather than from birth in international cases) will in practice make the rights meaningless for many parents with children born abroad. The problem will particularly affect those conceiving in India where it takes 4-5 months to get a UK passport to bring a child home, and parents need leave from work during this time. We want to see the right to leave start from birth in all cases.

Having spearheaded the campaign for equal treatment for surrogacy parents, we are determined not to fail at the last hurdle. Please let us know if you are expecting a baby through surrogacy in India and can help us speak out about this.

You can read Natalie’s more detailed comment piece here.

Important footnote:  After this article was published in Bionews, the Department of Business Innovation and Skills contacted us to say that the Minister has reconsidered, and maternity leave for surrogacy will start from birth in international as well as UK cases.  Needless to say we are delighted, and want to say thank you to the Minister for showing such common sense to help families through overseas surrogacy.