Act amending the Adoption Arrangements Act, 27 November 1989
Annual Review of Population Law 16: 47-48
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0364-3417 PMID: 12344436 Document Number: 339852
This Federal Republic of Germany Act amends the Adoption Arrangements Act to regulate surrogate motherhood. The Act is renamed the Act on the Arrangements for the Adoption of Children and on the Prohibition of Surrogate Motherhood, and the following provisions are inserted: "13a. ¿Surrogate mother' means a woman who, on the basis of an agreement, is prepared: 1. to undergo artificial or natural insemination; or 2. to consent to the insertion in her of an embryo not originating in her or otherwise to carry it to term, and to hand over the child after birth to a third party for adoption or other permanent custody. 13b. ¿Surrogate motherhood arrangement' means the introduction of persons wishing to adopt or otherwise accept in permanent custody a child resulting from surrogate motherhood (the requesting parents) to a woman who is prepared to undertake surrogate motherhood. The term covers the provision of information concerning the opportunity for concluding an agreement of the kind indicated in Section 13a. 13c. Surrogate motherhood arrangements shall be prohibited. 13d. Surrogate mothers or requesting parents may not be sought by means of public statements, in particular, by means of advertisements or notices in the press." In addition, the Act provides that persons engaging in surrogate motherhood arrangements, for economic gain or otherwise, are guilty of a criminal offense; the surrogate mother and requesting parents involved in such arrangements are not liable to a penalty.