IVF SURROGACY: Argentina is no longer a paradise for Surrogacy
IVF SURROGACY: Argentina is no longer a paradise for Surrogacy
Since June 2024, families from all over the world have experienced very stressful moments in their surrogacy journeys in Argentina. Indefinite waits for the documentation of their children, legal uncertainty, fear of losing everything, fear of losing their children and even their freedom.
Argentina had been presented for more than ten years as a true surrogacy paradise. With cutting-edge human rights legislation, with access to assisted reproductive techniques for all types of families: single-parent, same-sex couples and heterosexual couples could access these techniques without any kind of restriction. Even as of 2017 in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, the civil registry registered children born by surrogacy directly as children of their parents without the name of the surrogate or any mention of the procedure appearing on the birth certificate.
«Parents from all over the world started their surrogacy processes in Argentina.»
However...
With the assumption of the new Government of Javier Milei, things began to change drastically when in June 2024 it was judicially forbidden to issue birth certificates without the name of the surrogate. There were delays of more than four months to obtain the birth certificates of children born through surrogacy, leaving the parents far from their jobs and homes, anchored to the City of Buenos Aires until their legal situation was resolved.
P. and C., a same-sex couple of Australian origin, tell us that a large community of parents who were in the same situation was generated, they set up whatsapp groups to assist each other, to generate a support network among themselves in order to go through such a difficult time.
“We were all very afraid of losing custody of our children, of being prosecuted, we were getting confusing information from all sides, several professionals approached us with simply lucrative purposes taking advantage of our vulnerability, luckily we had each other and the love for our children made us stay strong”.
After several months the birth certificates began to be issued, but with the name of the Surrogate, and the parents could return home with their children with that birth certificate and a voluntary authorization given by the Surrogate to leave the country. The uncertainty was enormous.
At the same time, a judicial investigation for human trafficking began. For this reason, several clinics, lawyers’ and notaries’ offices were raided by the police. The clinics, alarmed by the situation, suspended their treatments until further notice. And this is where the story of many parents who saw their dreams of forming a family in Argentina dashed begins.
With the clinics refusing to form embryos or to transfer them to the pregnant women, intended parents from all over the world suffered the indefinite suspension of their pregnancies.
D. From Australia and P. from Ukraine were in the same situation: the clinics would not form their embryos without judicial authorization.
Other parents, such as L. and C., had already transported their 8 embryos from Australia to Argentina and saw their process interrupted on the day of the first embryo transfer. Their surrogate went through all the preparation and on the day of the transfer they were told that it would not be done without judicial authorization.
The difficulty of today and the hope for tomorrow.
Today, many intended parents have their embryos and sperm ormples or eggs in different clinics in Argentina. Their situation is dramatic: “I have no money to start the process again, I will have to leave my genetic material here until I can save again, because the clinic refuses to reimburse me, considering it a case of force majeure”, says A. “We will have to send our embryos to destinations where surrogacy is possible for same-sex couples”, declares L with a gesture of deep concern.
The lives of these families have been affected to the depths of their feelings. The dream of starting a family turned into a nightmare.
Luckily there is a rainbow of hope for these families in other destinations where surrogacy is possible. And many of them will be able to transport their embryos through authorized courier companies to the destinations of their choice.
At Mondo IVF we are ready to take on this great challenge, ready for all those intended parents.
Writer
Mariana Retamales
Is a lawyer dedicated to the field of fertility and international surrogacy, she is at this moment of her career 100% focused on providing a definitive solution to the challenges faced by the IPs in Argentina, forming valuable alliances with different providers around the world. In this context, she joins to work with Mondo IVF, contributing to the Company with her knowledge and true calling to serve.
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