1 Legal Status of Surrogacy in Finland Senior Adviser Salla Silvola Ministry of Justice

2 Current legal status Act on Assisted Fertility Treatments (1237/2006) prohibits provision of assisted fertility treatments, if ”there is reason to presume that the child will be given up for adoption”. – IVF-assisted surrogacy is forbidden Adoption Act (22/2012) prohibits granting adoption e.g. ”if any remuneration for the adoption has been given or promised”. – Commercial surrogacy in any form is forbidden

3 Former legal status Prior to Act on Assisted Fertility Treatments (i.e. prior to , when the Act entered into force) – Gap in legislation allowed fertility clinics to provide non-commercial IVF-surrogacy – Surrogate mothers were either close relatives or friends/volunteers – During approx. 20 surrogacy arrangements, 11 births – Reported cases of depression (2/10), legal dispute of motherhood (1), uncertainty of paternity during pregnancy (1)

4 Finnish cases of surrogacy abroad National Advisory Board on Social Welfare and Health Care Ethics: – Estimate: 5 couples going abroad annually – No statistics July 2012 – Helsinki Appeal court confirmed paternity of twins born by surrogacy in Russia on the basis of a Russian birth certificate October 2012 – Helsinki Appeal court did not confirm the intended mother as custodian on the basis of a Russian birth certificate

5 Current legal activity Statement by National Advisory Board on Social Welfare and Health Care Ethics in 2011 – In some single cases IVF-surrogacy may be ethically acceptable – Further legal analysis must be carried out Memorandum on surrogacy published by Ministry of Justice September 2012 – Memorandum gives three choices: 1. Maintaining legal status quo 2. Allowing non-commercial surrogacy without restrictions 3. Allowing non-commercial surrogacy in single cases – Memorandum does not take a stand which alternative should be preferred – Deadline for comments: mid-November 2012