**UPDATE: This petition will be debated on Monday 7th September 2026**

Call for MP to oppose petition reforms and raise concerns in parliamentary debate

You may be aware of a government petition launched by fashion owner and social media influencer, Adam Frisby. He and husband Jamie would like to change the Surrogacy Arrangements Act to have the law recognise parental rights at birth.

Jamie and Adam went abroad to Connecticut, USA to obtain a baby from a single mother. Krista gave birth to Leven Rose in January, and by law Krista is rightly the legal parent here, even with a pre-birth order under the commercial contract she signed with Circle Surrogacy.

Transferring parental rights at birth would see a significant shift, one that not even the Law Commission in their 2023 report and Draft Bill suggested. Under the proposed ‘new pathway’ parental rights at birth along with the removal of the birth mother’s name from the birth certificate were proposed, but this was not suggested for international surrogacy. The Law Commission had a whole chapter in their Core Report arguing for the Parental Order process to remain in place.

As the petition secured over 100,000 signatures it is likely that there will be a debate, so we ask you to write to your MP to highlight the key issues with this proposal:
1. No oversight from courts: Right now, there’s at least one formal, straightforward application – a parental order. Surrogacy arrangements are checked and officially recorded before legal parenthood is transferred. It’s not perfect, but it’s the only point where any real scrutiny happens. Removing this means less transparency and accountability.
2. No safety checks: Unlike adoption, surrogacy already has much less safeguarding, but this petition calls for zero checks. At the moment, social workers do home visits but by removing CAFCASS even that basic safeguard would be lost and background checks wouldn’t be required either.
3. Concerns on consent: The current system makes sure the birth mother can give full and free consent and importantly this is ongoing, after the baby is born. Changing this to decisions made before birth could lock things in too early and take away her ability to change her mind. That risks shifting UK surrogacy even closer to commercial surrogacy with pre-birth orders seen in contracts in Ukraine and the USA. This is a significant shift away from the type of surrogacy the public generally endorses.

If you would like to go further…please include:

• Health risks for surrogate mothers: Evidence from Canada, which operates a similar ‘expenses only’ systems as the UK, shows that surrogate pregnancies carry high risks – x3 – for severe pregnancy complications like sepsis, preeclampsia, and postpartum haemorrhage.
• Growing international concern: A 2025 report from the UN Special Rapporteur for Violence Against Women and Girls found that surrogacy cannot be made safe and she warned about risks of exploitation and human trafficking. Reem Alsalem’s recommendation was to prohibit surrogacy.
• Surrogacy is a crime against humanity: as a form of reproductive violence and the sale of children, surrogacy is included in proposals from the UN Special Rapporteur for member states’ consideration to expand the list of crimes against humanity
• Surrogacy is human trafficking: A newly released report from the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioning names “coercive surrogacy”, “forced surrogacy” and egg harvesting as forms of reproductive exploitation.
• Public support for reform is unclear: The 2019 consultation from the Law Commission showed that more than half of respondents actually supported banning surrogacy altogether.
• UK Involvement and Facilitation in a global baby buyers market: We have seen an increasing numbers of UK residents are going abroad for surrogacy, especially since 2021, often to countries with weaker or no regulations and cheap deals. Changes would make the UK complicit in a global industry linked to exploitation and trafficking. (See the Annual Report from the Modern Slavery Line, Unseen below)
• Access to banned practices: Some of these countries allow practices illegal in the UK, such as sex selection. Many of the clinics abroad would not meet UK HFEA guidance of implanting one embryo at a time.
• High-risk environments: Surrogacy arrangements are happening in conflict zones like Ukraine and countries with concerns about corruption and exploitation, such as Nigeria, where British citizens cannot adopt from due to concerns of corruption and human trafficking.
• Conflict with UK law and values: the UK has commitments under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the Human Rights Act 1998, and ignoring the harms of a global industry (projected to be worth over $200bn by 2035) women are exploited and children are treated as commodities for trade.
  

Please conclude your letter by asking your MP to raise these concerns, oppose the reforms and to attend the parliamentary debate and it would be very helpful to us if you could let us know if you receive a response.

If you need support in sending an email please contact us at stopsurrogacynowuk@stopsurrogacynowuk

Thank you!

Further information:

1. Report from Women’s Policy Centre – written by Lexi Ellingsworth
   https://www.womenpolicycentre.com/the-case-for-a-universal-ban-on-surrogacy/
3. UN Report on Surrogacy
   https://docs.un.org/en/A/80/158
4. 2024 Annual Report from Modern Slavery Helpline, Unseen: “Forced surrogacy was reported to the Helpline for the first time in 2023, a total of four times, with one case indicating various types of exploitation. Forced surrogacy cases involve a potential victim forced or coerced into carrying a pregnancy for another individual. In total, 104 cases were recorded where it was indicated that potential victims experienced various types of exploitation. This is an increase of 6% from 591 the previous year.”

https://www.unseenuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Unseen-Helpline-Annual-Assessment_2023.pdf