In its ruling, the Civil Chamber of Spain’s Supreme Court sided with the parents of a minor born in Ukraine through surrogacy, whose paternal affiliation is biological and whose maternal affiliation is adoptive (the spouse of the biological father).

The parents requested the change of the minor’s birthplace to the city where they live in Spain but the Civil Registry refused, leading them to appeal the decision at the General Directorate of Legal Security and Public Faith. 

This was initially dismissed, so the parents took the matter to the Supreme Court.

In their Supreme Court ruling, the judges considered that the situation for surrogate children born overseas should be the same as for international adoption cases, where children adopted  by parents in Spain can have their place of birth changed to Spain.

“The place of birth of the child, in a remote country which the parents have no connection to, would denote the adoptive nature of the family affiliation and the circumstances of the child’s origin,” the judges pointed out about Ukraine featuring as the surrogate child’s place of birth.

The ruling by the Supreme Court also addresses the rights to privacy of these surrogate minors and their families in Spain, non-discrimination on the basis of place of birth and protection by public authorities of such children, who are equal before the law regardless of their origins.

In other words, “by revealing the existence of the adoption and the circumstances relating to its particularly sensitive origin (in this case, having been conceived by surrogacy)” it could potentially harm the child’s sense of belonging to his Spanish parents and Spain.

Surrogacy sees a woman get artificially inseminated with the father’s sperm, usually as part of a legal agreement in cases when issues such as infertility, possible pregnancy problems prevent a couple from having a baby themselves.

This arrangement or practice is not legal in Spain, although there are more than 2,500 surrogate children registered in Spain. 

The country’s sexual health and reproductive law recognises surrogacy as a form of violence against women and states that the advertising of agencies that offer these services abroad is prohibited.

Surrogacy is outlawed in many EU countries but it is legal in places such as the UK, some US states, Canada, Greece, Ukraine and Georgia.

READ ALSO: What are the laws on surrogacy in Spain?