France’s highest court handed down a significant ruling Friday, declaring that children born through surrogacy in foreign countries must be legally recognized in France as the children of their intended parents — despite the fact that surrogacy itself is prohibited under French law.
The ban on surrogacy — an arrangement in which a woman carries and delivers a child on behalf of parents who cannot do so themselves — has left many families in a legal gray area, with children and their parents lacking official recognition under French law.
The case that triggered the ruling involved a married male couple who had three children through surrogacy in Canada. The couple sought French recognition of a Canadian court decision that had already established them as the children’s legal parents.
In its decision, the court stated: “Given the superior interest of the child, the French ban on surrogacy does not, in itself, allow for the rejection of a foreign judgment which declares the intended parents as the legal parents of the child born through surrogacy practiced in that country.”
The ruling establishes a new legal precedent in France. The court also pointed to a prior decision by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that a national ban on surrogacy cannot be used to block the legal relationship between a child and their intended parents.
Without such recognition, the court warned, “the child would be kept in legal uncertainty … which would be contrary to his best interests.”
The court also noted that Canadian authorities had confirmed the surrogate mothers involved had given their consent to the surrogacy agreements and had agreed to give up their parental rights.
The ruling comes as the surrogacy debate has grown more heated in France. Former prime minister and potential presidential candidate Gabriel Attal has reportedly expressed support for legalizing the practice on what he described as an “altruistic” basis — meaning without any payment to the surrogate mother. However, many of his political allies are opposed to the idea.
France’s current minister for gender equality, Aurore Berge, made her position clear, saying: “I believe that women’s bodies and women’s dignity are completely incompatible with surrogacy.”
The issue remains deeply divisive in French politics, placing supporters of gay rights in opposition to conservatives who uphold traditional family values, while also splitting advocates for women’s rights and those who argue individuals should have freedom over their own bodies.
The debate is not limited to France. In Spain, where surrogacy is also banned, dozens of children born through the practice in other countries are seeking legal recognition. Meanwhile, the Italian government has recently moved to make it a criminal offense for prospective parents to travel abroad to have a child through surrogacy.
