JERUSALEM – An Israeli Health Ministry committee has recommended that gay men be allowed to use a surrogate mother to have a child, reports Haaretz.
The public committee, which was set up two years ago to examine policies surrounding fertility and birth, concluded its proceedings last week, issuing a report that may transform Israel into one of the most progressive countries in the world in this field.
Among the report’s recommendations are extending the right to conceive children with a surrogate mother to gay men and single women; allowing married women to serve as surrogates; allowing married men and women to undergo fertility treatment with people other than their spouses without notifying them; and allowing non-anonymous sperm donation by which a child may learn the donor’s identity upon reaching 18.
The committee was appointed in August 2010, headed by Shlomo Mor Yosef, chairman of the Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research and CEO of the National Insurance Institute of Israel. The committee was made up of 12 members; ethicists, doctors and social workers.
While gay men may gain the right to use a surrogate mother, the report only allows them to use a volunteer or altruistic surrogate, which will make finding a surrogate more difficult, according to Haaretz. Family members also will be allowed to serve as surrogates as long as they are not daughters, grandmothers or grandchildren.
