The biological mother and the surrogate mother who carries the embryo and gives birth to the former’s child.
A woman may carry another couple’s embryo with court permission, provided there is a written, unpaid agreement between the couple who resorts to the borrowed womb and the woman who agrees to become pregnant.
Indications for surrogacy include:
- Congenital absence of uterus (Mayer-Rokitansky syndrome)
- Congenital uterus malformation anomalies
- Multiple fibroid tumours of the uterus
- Certain medical conditions that render pregnancy a threat to a woman’s life, such as congenital heart disease
- Cases with multiple miscarriages
- Select cases with multiple failures in previous IVF attempts
Surrogacy and the Law
- The identities of the eggs or gametes donors are not revealed to the persons who wish to have a child with fertilised egg or gamete donation.
- It is strictly prohibited, as contra bonos mores (against good morals), to cede genetic material for financial remuneration.
- By court permission it is permitted to transfer foreign fertilised eggs into the body of the woman who will gestate.
- The petitioner is solely the woman who wishes to have a child and cannot get pregnant for medical reasons, and she must not have exceeded her 50th year of age.
- In surrogacy, both the surrogate and the couple wishing to have a child must be submitted to medical examinations, and either the biological mother or the surrogate must reside in Greece. Furthermore, the egg must not be from the surrogate mother, but either from the mother wishing to have a child or from a third-party egg donor.
- In surrogacy cases, legal guidance is necessary in order to avoid any complications during the process. Also, a private agreement must be concluded between the couple, the centre and the surrogate, so that all sides may be protected. According to the law, surrogacy agreements are made in writing and without any remuneration.