Marisa Allman of 36 Family, and who specialises in family creation work, attended the 3rd International Surrogacy Forum which took place in Cape Town on 24 and 25 March 2025.
The forum was an opportunity for practitioners, academics and other professionals involved in surrogacy work from around the world to share information and experience.
This year, the focus was on countries in Africa, although it was very much a global event.
Particular highlights of the Africa-centric parts of the conference were;
Judge Andre Le Grange described his experience of dealing with surrogacy cases in the South African High Court. South Africa has a well developed surrogacy framework which allows pre-birth orders to be made.
Millie Grace Akoth Odhimbo Mabona MP gave a moving account of the stigma associated with childlessness in Kenya, and described the provisions of the Reproductive Health Care Bill currently under discussion.
Undiga Emuekpere described her experiences as a lawyer in Nigeria assisting local and diaspora Nigerians to navigate the surrogacy process, including Nigerians living in the UK. The shortage of gamete donors of African ethnicity outside Africa is a very real issue for the diaspora trying to conceive via assisted reproduction in their countries of habitual residence. The large numbers of UK residents entering into surrogacy agreements in Nigeria is influencing practice in Nigeria to enable satisfaction of the requirements of the English court.
Bobby Banson brought the conference up to speed with Ghana’s surrogacy framework, including pre-birth orders for intended parents.
In the meantime, the work of the Hague Conference on Private International Law parentage and surrogacy project continues. Rachel Kelsey, President of the IAFL provided an update as the project moves closer to achieving a draft instrument. The next report from the working group is expected in April 2025.
Involving Marisa Allman
