Israel allows gay couples to have children through surrogacy

Tel Aviv: After Israel's Supreme Court annulled parts of a surrogacy law that prevented gay couples from having children through a surrogate in July last year, Israel has decided to allow same-sex couples to have children through surrogate mothers, reports Associated Press.

Israel's health minister on Tuesday said that the decision will be implemented from next week.

"Full equality. That is the simple demand and it is the goal of the LGBT struggle, the long struggle of my community", said Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, who is openly gay.

Horowitz added that the change in the law would also expand surrogacy to single men and transgender people.

The move came after the court ruled in 2020 that the law, which had expanded access to single women but excluded gay couples, disproportionately harmed the right to equality and the right to parenthood and was unlawful.

It gave the government of then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a year to draw up a new law, but parliament failed to meet the deadline.

The court said last year that the change in the law would take six months to come into effect, on January 11, to allow the formation of professional guidelines.

Under the previous regulations, Israeli same-sex couples looking to become parents could not engage a surrogate and were often deterred by the additional costs of finding one abroad.

The state had argued that the law was intended to protect surrogate mothers but the court ruled that it would be possible to strike a balance that would not discriminate.

Even though gays serve openly in Israel's military and parliament, and many popular artists and entertainers are openly gay obstacles including the absence of civil marriage that would allow same-sex marriage still remain in the country.