Just under 1,000 children were born to surrogates in 2025, double the figure for 2015. Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Just under 1,000 children were born to surrogates in 2025, double the figure for 2015. Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images Surrogacy UK surrogacy law ‘creaking at seams’ as demand rises sharply Experts urge ministers to update legislation to prevent intended parents resorting to riskier arrangements abroad
Prefer the Guardian on Google Surrogates, parents and children are being failed by the UK’s archaic laws, which are “creaking at the seams” as demand for surrogacy grows rapidly, experts have said.
Figures obtained by the Guardian show there were just under 1,000 children born to surrogates in 2025, double the number in 2015. The rise has been driven by a rise in the number of gay couples seeking to be parents, increasing infertility and shifting cultural attitudes.
Data shows that applications for parental orders, which are usually made shortly after birth to reassign legal parenthood from the surrogate to the intended parents, reached more than 980 in 2025.
Of these, 150 children were born in the UK, where surrogates can only receive money for expenses. The remainder were born abroad, mostly in the US, Ukraine, Nigeria, Georgia, Colombia and Mexico, where surrogates can be paid a fee for having a child.
UK surrogacy agencies told the Guardian they were busier than ever. The founder and director of Brilliant Beginnings, Helen Prosser, said they had been forced to turn away new intended parents as demand for surrogates had soared well above the level they were able to provide.
A Law Commission review published in 2023 urged the government to change UK surrogacy law, including by giving legal parenthood to the intended parents from a child’s birth.
At present, the surrogate must be listed on the baby’s birth certificate as its mother, while the intended parents must apply for a parental order after birth, which can take months. Experts said this can be distressing for the new family, and deters many prospective surrogates who do not wish to be a child’s legal mother.
The lawyers also recommended greater regulatory oversight of surrogacy agencies, and pre-conception medical and safeguarding screening. The recommendations were accepted and informed a draft bill, but the government has said it is not a legislative priority.
The review’s author, Prof Nicholas Hopkins, said the best way to prevent intended parents going abroad, where arrangements with surrogates can be riskier and less well regulated, was to ensure there was a properly regulated scheme in the UK.
Its co-author, Prof Gillian Black, said there were also cases in which a child has needed hospital treatment, for which only the surrogate has been able to legally consent. “That doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground where the child’s being cared for and living with the intended parents. The surrogate doesn’t want that responsibility at all,” she said.
Significant disagreement about the ethics of surrogacy exists globally. The UK permits an “altruistic” model, but countries such as the US, Mexico and Nigeria allow women to be surrogates for money. France, Germany, Italy and Spain are among the countries that heavily restrict or ban surrogacy.
The UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, has called for surrogacy to be abolished globally, calling it a “system of violence, exploitat…