A new legal change in the UAE has made it possible for people to choose surrogacy over natural childbirth, which was not previously an option in the nation. Legal experts describe the alteration to federal legislation as “groundbreaking changes,” indicating a significant change in the nation’s perspective on reproductive technology.
A woman who agrees to carry and deliver a baby for a couple or an individual is called a surrogate.
According to Manasi Dicholkar, a legal associate at Khalifa Bin Huwaidan Alketbi Advocates & Legal Consultants, “notable amendments (in UAE law) include allowing unmarried couples access to fertilisation and implantation procedures, permitting surrogacy, and extending medically assisted reproductive techniques (IVF) to non-Muslim parties without a marriage certificate.”
However, what does this imply for UAE couples? Khaleej Times interviews James Clarke, Of Counsel at BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates LLP, to dissect all of the legal knowledge to date.
According to Clarke, unmarried and non-Muslim couples can make use of the law by submitting an application to the appropriate regulators. “[They] can now use any of the nation’s authorized assisted conception and reproduction services, including surrogacy.”
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