When a child is born through a surrogacy arrangement, a simple question can become surprisingly complex: who should be recorded as the child’s legal parents?
The person who gives birth may be different from the child’s genetic or intended parents. Depending on national law, legal parentage may be established in different ways. These arrangements highlight an important challenge for civil registration systems to accurately record legal parentage while safeguarding children’s rights and maintaining the quality of vital statistics.
Across Asia and the Pacific, legal frameworks and civil registration practices for surrogacy births vary considerably. As legislation and family structures evolve, civil registration systems must adapt while maintaining accurate and reliable records. This article explores how different jurisdictions have addressed the registration of births and legal parentage in surrogacy cases.
Different models in practice
Surrogacy separates roles that registration systems have traditionally treated as one: the woman who gives birth, the genetic parents and the parents who will raise the child. Countries have adopted different approaches to determining legal parentage and recording it at birth.
One approach is to record the intended parents from the outset. In several systems of our region, this may require the consent of the woman who gave birth, a formal agreement between the parties in some cases and DNA testing to confirm that the woman who gave birth has no genetic link to the child. Her details then appear neither in the birth record nor on the certificate.
Another approach imposes specific legal requirements, such as notarized agreements and DNA evidence where required, to establish parentage. The intended parents are recorded as the child's legal parents, while donors have no parental rights or obligations and the woman who gave birth is not recorded. Children born through assisted reproductive technologies are afforded the same legal rights as other children.
A third approach separates birth registration from the transfer of legal parentage. The woman who gave birth is initially registered as the mother, and legal parentage is transferred afterwards by a court or administrative decision. Once that process is complete, the registration record is amended. In these systems, the original entry exists, at least for a period of time.
Balancing clarity, protection, and rights
These varying approaches underscore a common challenge: establishing legal parentage clearly while addressing the biological and social complexities of surrogacy. UNICEF highlights the human rights risks faced by children born through surrogacy, particularly in international arrangements, concerning identity, nationality and knowledge of their origins. The Verona Principles provide a child-rights-based framework for protecting identity and ensuring that decisions on parentage and registration reflect the child's best interests.
Despite these differences, a shared objective is to establish the child’s legal identity and parentage clearly from birth, providing the foundation for nationality, inheritance and access to services. Safeguards such as consent requirements and DNA verification help to prevent disputes and to protect everyone involved, above all - the child.
What this means for statistics?
Registration practices may also affect the vital statistics derived from birth records. Where the intended mother is recorded as the mother, characteristics such as age and number of previous births may describe a woman who did not physically give birth. While the overall statistical impact is likely to be limited, the implications for specific indicators, such as fertility at older ages, may warrant consideration.
An evolving landscape
Surrogacy is only one example of how civil registration systems are evolving in response to changing societies. highlighting the intersection of law, technology and human relationships.
As assisted reproductive technologies continue to advance and cross-border arrangements become more common, these challenges are likely to increase. Some countries in the Asia-Pacific region have responded by restricting access to surrogacy for non-residents or foreign nationals. Civil registration systems will therefore need to continue adapting, clarifying legal frameworks, strengthening administrative procedures and, in some cases, integrating new forms of evidence into their processes.
The importance of continued exchange
Different approaches to surrogacy reflect countries’ diverse legal frameworks and policy choices, highlighting the value of continued dialogue and knowledge sharing.
As part of ESCAP’s support to the implementation of the Asia Pacific Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Decade (2015-2030), multiple platforms such as Eurasian Civil Registrars Network and the Regional Steering Group for CRVS in Asia and the Pacific enable civil registration practitioners to share experiences, compare practices and better understand how others are responding to similar challenges. Birth registration issues, including those related to surrogacy, are frequently discussed through these networks, providing opportunities to learn about emerging practices across the region.
In doing so, these networks contribute to a broader effort: ensuring that even as family structures evolve and technologies advance, every child is recognized by law, clearly, securely and without ambiguity, from the very beginning of life.
