Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Lord Jopling (Conservative) on Wednesday, 2 July 2025, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 16 July 2025. It was answered by Baroness Merron (Labour) on Thursday, 10 July 2025 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Surrogacy

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government how many babies were born in each of the past three years to surrogate mothers; and in how many cases the surrogate mother has claimed parentage of the child contrary to the wishes of the genetic parents.

Answer

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) publishes annual data, available on their website, which includes births from surrogacy at United Kingdom licensed fertility clinics. The following table shows the number of live births from in vitro fertilisation among surrogates at UK licensed fertility clinics in each of the last three years for which information is available:

Year of treatment

Number of live births

2021

105

2022

90

2023

95

Source: HFEA dashboard data, available at the following link:
https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/hfea-dashboard/

Data on the HFEA dashboard is rounded to the nearest five to ensure patient confidentiality. The data is as recorded by the HFEA on 1 May 2025, and reflects the data on this date, and may change over time. This does not represent the total number of births from surrogacy in the UK, only those that have been carried out within UK licensed fertility clinics.

Information is not held by the Government on cases where the surrogate mother has claimed parentage of the child contrary to the wishes of the genetic parents.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL9051
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Childbirth Surrogacy
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk