The ECtHR’s first advisory opinion: Implications for cross-border surrogacy involving male intended parents

Abstract

This article examines the content and scope of the European Court of Human Rights’s first advisory opinion as regards the practice of cross-border surrogacy in Europe. While the advisory opinion concerns the recognition of the legal parentage of an intended mother, this article considers whether the reasoning could be applied to male couples who avail of surrogacy. It is argued that the non-genetically related intended father in the male couple is in a directly comparable position to the non-genetically related intended mother in the opposite-sex couple for the purpose of legal parentage following surrogacy.