{"id":5315,"date":"2015-08-27T17:28:19","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T17:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.againstchildtrafficking.org\/?p=5315"},"modified":"2015-08-27T17:28:19","modified_gmt":"2015-08-27T17:28:19","slug":"nepal-bans-surrogate-births-%e2%80%94-worry-for-gay-israelis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/nepal-bans-surrogate-births-%e2%80%94-worry-for-gay-israelis\/","title":{"rendered":"Nepal Bans Surrogate Births \u2014 Worry for Gay Israelis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: http:\/\/forward.com<\/a>
\nJTAAugust 27, 2015<\/p>\n

Nepal\u2019s Supreme Court has issued an injunction to stop women from carrying surrogate pregnancies, depriving Israel same-sex couples of the option to begin the pregnancies there.<\/p>\n

The injunction, issued this week, came as the court will rule on a petition to ban the process outright in Nepal. The petition argues that surrogacy exploits poor women\u2019s bodies, according to Haaretz. The court must respond to the petition within 15 days.<\/p>\n

Israel bans surrogate pregnancies within Israel for same-sex couples, causing many to turn to surrogacy in foreign countries. Nepal has emerged as a relatively affordable option for the process, especially as India and Thailand have banned surrogacy.<\/p>\n

The ruling will not affect couples already in the midst of surrogate pregnancies, but it will bar couples from beginning them. The Center for Surrogacy-Israel estimates that some 100 Israeli couples begin the process in Nepal each year.<\/p>\n

The Himalayan nation\u2019s status as a key destination for Israeli would-be parents was spotlighted when the massive earthquake struck, forcing many to rescue children and surrogate mothers from the danger zone.<\/p>\n

The decision may not be final, however.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court ordered the government to respond to the petition within 15 days. According to a translation of the decision sent to Israeli surrogacy agencies, the government was asked to reply to a long list of questions, mostly related to the rights of the parties involved. Inter alia, the court wants to know what rights the future parents have, what steps are taken to ensure the surrogate mother isn\u2019t harmed, what rights and benefits she has, what citizenship the child has, under what conditions the child can be taken to another country, and what responsibilities the surrogacy agencies have.<\/p>\n

Attorney Dana Magdassi, owner of the Lotus surrogacy agency, which works in Nepal, said the court\u2019s intervention could actually be beneficial.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur attorneys are very optimistic,\u201d she said. \u201cThey think the decision asks for good details; it sounds as if the judge truly wants to hear. The questions the judge asks are relevant and legitimate questions \u2013 what happens regarding the child\u2019s rights, the woman\u2019s rights; who makes sure the woman is paid.\u201d Thus if the court ultimately rejects the petition, Magdassi said, its ruling could expand on the government\u2019s decision in positive ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the minute, we won\u2019t take any new customers until it becomes clear what exactly can be done,\u201d she added. \u201cWith regard to impending births, I don\u2019t think this has any significance. You can\u2019t stop births.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we did the procedure in India, the moment a decision was made that you needed a medical visa to undergo it in India, they let people who weren\u2019t entitled to medical visas enter India to finish the process for a period of 10 months,\u201d Magdassi continued. \u201cThe Indians also understood that it\u2019s impossible to say \u2018you can\u2019t enter\u2019; babies are born, but you can\u2019t take them out. Nobody will come and take the children or say these children can\u2019t go back with the parents. I\u2019m optimistic that in the end, the court will reject the petition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doron Mamet, who owns the Tammuz surrogacy agency, which also works in Nepal, rejected the petition\u2019s claim that the surrogate mothers are exploited.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the normal demagogic statements of people who are trying by every means possible to stop surrogacies; they aren\u2019t based on any truth,\u201d he said. \u201cThe surrogate mothers receive enormous sums relative to their earning ability in those countries. All the surrogate mothers come of their own free choice, after the agreement with them has been examined in depth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamet added that with surrogacy opportunities overseas being closed off, it\u2019s vital to pass a proposed surrogacy law that would let same-sex couples and single people use surrogates here in Israel. The law, spearheaded by former Health Minister Yael German (Yesh Atid), passed its first reading in the last Knesset, but hasn\u2019t yet advanced in the current one.<\/p>\n

With Haaretz
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: http:\/\/forward.com JTAAugust 27, 2015 Nepal\u2019s Supreme Court has issued an injunction to stop women from carrying surrogate pregnancies, depriving Israel same-sex couples of the option to begin the pregnancies there. The injunction, issued this week, came as the court will rule on a petition to ban the process outright in Nepal. The petition argues… Weiter »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,48],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5315"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5317,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5315\/revisions\/5317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}