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France legally recognizes children born to surrogates

By Amy R. Connolly

PARIS, July 4 (UPI) -- France's highest court granted legal status to surrogate children Friday, allowing them French birth certificates and the same legal rights as other French-born children and advancing what could be greater acceptance of what some see as non-traditional families.

The dramatic shift does nothing to remove the ban on surrogacy in France, but does allow children born abroad through a surrogate to be legally tied to their parents with documents to prove their French citizenship.

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In a traditional surrogacy, a woman carries an embryo created from her own eggs and and the intended father or a donor. A gestational surrogate carries an embryo from both the intended mother and father.

Surrogacy was outlawed in France in 1991 as a means to protect the country's values.

The Cour de cassation's decision Friday comes after two separate cases that involved men asking for French birth certificates for their children born in Russia to surrogates.

The ruling means the children have access to ID cards, passports, state health care and other services intended for French citizens.

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