Antonia Felix and Alice Mantle are featured in an article on the website of purpose-led retailer From Babies with Love, giving an overview of the review taking place of UK surrogacy law.
Not that long ago, surrogacy was not even recognised by the English courts. In 1978, the first IVF baby was born in Britain and since then the law has often been playing catch up with both the science and societal attitudes.
Currently, when a child is born via surrogacy, in the UK, upon the child's birth (whether abroad or in the UK) the surrogate is the legal mother, and her spouse or civil partner will be the legal father or other legal parent. This is obviously confusing and often not what people expect.
In England and Wales, "Parental Orders" were introduced in 1990 to bestow legal parenthood on the intended parents and extinguish the surrogate's legal relationship with the child (and that of her spouse or civil partner). In 2010, it became possible for same sex and unmarried couples to apply for Parental Orders and in 2019, it became possible for single applications to apply for Parental Orders.
Read in full here (subscription required).