Surrogatmoderskap -särskilt om de rättsliga komplikationer som kan uppstå i samband med förfarandet

Sammanfattning: The woman who gives birth to a child is considered to be the legal mother. According to the statutory presumption of maternity in Föräldrabalken (1949: 381) (Children and Parents’ Code) Chapter 1 § 7, the woman who gives birth to a child is considered to bo the childs mother if, the child is conceived through a in vitro fertilization with donor eggs. Her husband is presumed to be the father of the child. If the mother is not married at the birth of the child, paternity is established through a court order or confirmation. The legal parenthood is the basis for the regulation of custody, residence and contact. Assisted reproduction technology can be appropriate for infertile couples. In Sweden, two methods of assisted reproduction technology is permitted: artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization. Adoption is jet another option for infertile couples. Surrogate motherhood is when a woman carries and gives birth to a child with the expressed intention to surrender the child to the intended parents. The method is not allowed under Swedish law, but the question is currently under going investigation. Several countries around the world are allowing different types of surrogacy. Involuntarily childless couples in Sweden sometimes travel to these countries to use a surrogate mother. Swedish law is not adapted for surrogacy or for those children who have been born through a surrogate mother. A variety of legal problems can therefor occur after a successful surrogacy arrangement. The Swedish presumption of maternity points out the surrogate mother as the legal mother of the child. According to the presumption of paternity the husband of the surrogate mother is considered to be the father of the child. The surrogate mother alone, or together with a potential husband, is considered to be the child’s guardian. That means that the intended parents are not entitled to represent the child. Legal complications can therefore occor when a surrogate arrangement is made abroad and the intended parents want to apply for Swedish citizenship, passport or residence permit for the child. The child will then be in Sweden without a legal representative. If the intended father is the child's genetic father, he can be determined to be the legal father of the child by judgment or confirmation in Sweden or by a foreign judgment recognized in Sweden or through a foreign valid confirmation. Then he can apply to become the guardian of the child. The consent of the surrogate mother will probably be required. The intended mother may become the legal parent of the child through an adoption. The same applies to the intended father if he is not the genetic father of the child. The adoption must be carried out according to the adoption legislation, which is not adapted for surrogacy. The intended parents are entitled to child benefit and parental benefits, only after they have been appointed as the child's guardians.