Research
You will find a complete range of our monographs, muti-authored and edited works including peer-reviewed, original scholarly research across the social sciences and aligned disciplines. We publish long and short form research and you can browse the complete Bristol University Press and Policy Press archive.
Policy Press also publishes policy reviews and polemic work which aim to challenge policy and practice in certain fields. These books have a practitioner in mind and are practical, accessible in style, as well as being academically sound and referenced.
This chapter compares the impact of existing legal and health regulatory frameworks on surrogates’ experiences of obstetric care provision in the UK and in California, drawing on empirical work conducted between 2018 and 2021. The chapter argues that surrogates’ experiences are emblematic of wider issues with obstetric care provision and suggests potential solutions for both jurisdictions.
This chapter examines the proposed surrogacy register, a new system for storage of and access to origin information for children born through surrogacy. It analyses the information that would be collected, the age/circumstances where access to information would be permitted, birth certificate notification of surrogacy conception, access to information by children of the surrogate and information sharing between children born of the same surrogate. It argues that, while many of the recommendations evidence a children’s rights-based approach, there is a lack of clarity regarding the information that it is envisaged would be collected and that further measures could have been taken to disincentive the use of anonymous gamete donors/surrogates in the context of international surrogacy.
The chapters contained in this collection provide a timely and thorough examination of surrogacy law in light of the recommendations of the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission, and the accompanying draft Surrogacy Bill. The contributions offer a mix of academic, practitioner, and first-hand viewpoints, which contribute to the originality and timeliness of the collection. While much has been written on the legal and ethical issues surrounding surrogacy in the UK, there is less scholarship engaging specifically with issues stemming from law reform. This book offers a critical interrogation of the most recent UK reform proposals in a way that advances the current field, offering insights not only on how the law should change, but also informing past, wider, and even international debates on key issues within surrogacy. Some of the recommendations under consideration could serve as a model for other jurisdictions considering (re)regulation of surrogacy. We recognise that the current recommendations are not perfect and, in some places, could be informed by good practice and legal developments elsewhere, as some of the chapters here consider. We remain convinced that effective domestic regulation of surrogacy can foster ethical and safe practice and balance the diverse and often competing interests of all parties involved, including children born through surrogacy, surrogates, and intended parents (IPs). Good regulation has the potential for disincentivising IPs from seeking surrogacy overseas, where practices and safeguards may not be as effective at protecting those involved. The perception that overseas surrogacy is an easy, better, or more certain solution must be challenged.
This chapter gives a unique insight into how some surrogacy arrangements take place in practice in the UK. Drawing on their experiences as a surrogate and a parent through surrogacy alongside their roles in SurrogacyUK, the authors explore personal stories of surrogates and IPs, and set out their views on the biggest challenges for surrogacy regulation and how the Law Commissions’ proposals address these.
This edited collection brings together a range of experts on surrogacy, at a time when the law in the UK has been fully reconsidered for the first time in generations.
Society has developed significantly since surrogacy laws were first written and the existing law is out of date and no longer fit for purpose. Each chapter in this collection considers one aspect of surrogacy regulation and analyses the potential effectiveness of proposed reforms or suggests what changes should be made based on experience in other jurisdictions.
This is an unprecedented contribution to the public and regulatory debate on surrogacy.
This chapter explores the reasons for the Law Commissions’ recommendation to retain the requirement for a genetic link in all legally recognised surrogacy arrangements. It argues that this position undermines the role of non-genetic intended parents on the child’s identity. Drawing on Article 8 of both the UNCRC and the European Convention on Human Rights, along with the court’s use of the concept of identity in parental order cases, it is argued that identity rights of surrogate-born children necessitate recognition of the relationship between children and IPs, irrespective of genetic link.
This chapter draws on data collected from interviews with UK-based surrogates. The chapter provides original insights into the participants’ motivations, experiences, perspectives on the existing law, and views on the proposed legal reforms in relation to expenses and legal parenthood in particular.
This chapter outlines the history of the regulation of surrogacy in the UK and the move towards law reform, culminating in the recommendations made by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission in 2023, and the corresponding draft Surrogacy Bill, which are the focus of this collection.
This chapter examines Ireland’s Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024, which regulates domestic, altruistic, gestational surrogacy arrangements in Ireland, as well as international surrogacy arrangements. This chapter analyses both approaches in the context of significant international developments in the areas of surrogacy regulation and law reform, including the proposals of the Law Commissions in England & Wales and Scotland, and international instruments from the UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Exploitation of Children, and the International Social Service.
