The National Council for Medically Assisted Procreation and the Portuguese Society for Reproductive Medicine are both praising a new law in Portugal, which allows for surrogacy in a country where that had previously not been an option. There are still many rules and regulations that have to be followed, and approval of any surrogacy arrangement is needed from the governing body that oversees procreation that is medically assisted in any way.

One of the specifics of any commercial agreement whereby one woman is contracted to carry and deliver a child for another couple, is that the woman who is carrying the child must already have given birth to at least one child. The child has to be registered within 20 days of it being born, and the surrogate  may keep the child until that time. Upon registration, though, the woman must turn the child over to the parents who contracted with her for the surrogacy arrangement.

Originally, surrogacy was authorized beginning in 2016, and the laws around it took effect in 2017 after much discussion and regulation development. However, in 2018 the law was declared unconstitutional and no surrogacy arrangements could be made by couples at that time. Now, that has been changed in order to allow couples to begin contracting with women for their surrogacy needs. The strict requirements of the process help to ensure that it will be taken seriously and handled with great care.

Many plans and proposed laws have been offered for consideration when it comes to surrogacy in Portugal, and they were all rejected for one reason or another. This law has come the furthest, and appears as though it will remain valid and in force. Couples who want to have children through surrogacy will need to be in touch with the National Council for Medically Assisted Procreation once they have a surrogate lined up, so they can get approval to begin the process.

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