As new surrogacy bill fails, minister vows to fix discriminatory law by end 2020

Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn says he will work to pass a new surrogacy law that will not discriminate on the basis of religion, race, gender or sexual orientation.

In February, the High Court struck down the existing law, which blocked single men and homosexual couples from being able to have children via a surrogate.

“In order to end this discrimination, an amendment to the surrogacy law must be advanced in a professional and responsible way and not via a private member bill,” he writes on Twitter.

He says he will bring forward a proposal with the agreement of the government by the end of 2020.

The announcement comes moments before a bill by Yesh Atid’s Idan Roll with the same goal fails despite three members of the coalition — Itzik Shmuli, Amir Ohana and Eitan Ginsburg — crossing the aisle to support the opposition measure.

All three are openly gay.

Attempts in recent years to expand access to surrogacy to the LGBT community have faced vehement opposition from Haredi political parties, who form part of the ruling coalition.

The court ruling in February had set a deadline of March 1, 2021, for the Knesset to change the law, noting that the court would only step in and strike down the surrogacy limitations if the Knesset fails to do so.