In view of the recent decision of the Irish government to abandon the law of their GPA   Bill 2013, the Children and Family Relationships Bill (Children Act and relationships  Family), the Institute of Children's Rights (ICRI) has decided to issue an official statement on the GPA. The following statement is based on information provided by the Councils of Academic Testimony and ICRI. Council members of Testimony were quick to share their personal problems on issues related to surrogacy.

In view of the recent move of the Irish Government to drop surrogacy legislation from the Children and Family Relationships Bill 2013, the International Children’s Rights Institute (ICRI) has decided to release an official statement on surrogacy. The following statement draws on information provided by both the Academic and Testimonial Councils of the ICRI.

The Irish Government recently approved draft legislation, called the “Children and Family Relationships Bill,” whose main purpose is to “modernise the law regarding the parental rights of children living in diverse family forms.” The ICRI is pleased to see that the draft gives children’s rights top priority, saying that “the best interests of the child are paramount in decisions on custody, guardianship and access.” Unfortunately, however, Irish Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has opted to remove regulations on surrogacy from the legislation due to a pending decision from the Supreme Court. Before such regulations can be legislated, Ms. Fitzgerald says more work has to be done concerning how the law should deal with commercial surrogates and how the rights of children born via surrogacy ought to be considered.

The ICRI hopes that Ms. Fitzgerald stays true to her word when she says that children’s rights are central to these issues when they do finalize their legislation regarding surrogacy. As Jennifer Lahl explains in this New York Times article, children of surrogacy are commodities that are designed and produced before the potential dangers of the procedure are investigated. Furthermore, ICRI co-Director adds Marion Boteju, surrogacy deprives a child of the right to his or her mother of origin.

Given these concerns, the ICRI will prepare and soon release a statement on the legislative developments in Ireland, urging Irish legislators to ban surrogacy outright.

The Bill:

California bill AB-1951, which has passed in California’s Assembly and Senate, would modify birth certificates in California to have two lines, each reading “Name of Parent” and contain three boxes, designating the adult in question as “mother,” “father,” or merely “parent.” Furthermore, this bill would mandate that this format be used by all local registrars in the state, who would also have to update all related paperwork to accommodate the change. AB-1951 has been forwarded to the desk of Governor Jerry Brown and now awaits his signature. It seems likely that Brown will sign the bill, since he signed a bill last year which allowed courts in California to recognize three or more parents as having legal custody over a child.

**Note: The conference is now full! All space is taken!**

The International Children's Rights Institute was recently launched this summer and will be having an inaugural conference on Friday, October 3, 2014! 

Please come to educate yourself on the most up-to-date trends in children’s rights and to build allegiances with others advocating for children.

Contact Us to let us know if you would like to attend the conference. Space is limited.