The parentage of three children born via surrogacy in the U.S to two European fathers has been recognized by a favourable judgement from the United Kingdom judiciary. However, the family had to go through several difficult moments before obtaining an excellent legal decision, especially in their native nation of Denmark. Not to consider the fact that their surrogate company had gone out of business due to a corruption case, and they were up against the running constitutional clock of Brexit.
In Denmark, everything goes wrong
As they had accomplished with her elder siblings, the family came back home with their new third baby and attempted to file her as a Danish resident and acquire Danish citizenship for her. That’s when everything started to go wrong. T
he fathers were advised that their babies had been mistakenly recorded and that kids born in these kinds of conditions could not be granted Danish nationality. Only the biological father, in this case, British Dad and the surrogate, were acknowledged as legal children’s parents within Danish legislation.
The fathers were invited to a meeting with Danish officials to discuss the repatriation of their children. They’ve been told that deportation may be put on hold for 90 days until more consideration is given. The British Dad applied for British passports for his children to sustain his family together. First, the appeal was refused. But, with the help of an attorney, all three children were recorded as British citizens the same day.
The young people were granted resident rights in Denmark due to their British registration, which came only a few weeks before the United Kingdom effectively exited the European Union. Considering this, the fathers decided to relocate to the U.K for the sake of their family’s safety.
Is There Any Hope For Denmark?
Kaspar Arianto, a gay father from Denmark, was saddened to learn about the British-Danish family’s forced relocation because of the circumstances in Denmark. Arianto and his spouse have been campaigning in Denmark for changes that will benefit communities like theirs. They launched a campaign to bring the topic well before the Danish parliament in January 2022, with the help of yet another family. The Danish legislature must examine a request with more than 50,000 signatories. Their protest received almost 73,000 signatures since around January 10, 2022.
Arianto characterised the event as “pure prejudice.” In Denmark, parenthood may presently be held by a male and a female, or two females, but not by two men. Furthermore, according to Arianto, the present political discussion in Denmark concerning co-fatherhood demands parliament to address the issue of “how men have babies,” which includes the case of overseas surrogacy.
The legislation ignores the technical and ethical advancements achieved in nations like the United States over the last several decades. Surrogacy is now done using a gestational surrogate, a third-party egg donor, and everybody’s explicit (and legal) permission. It isn’t the terrible picture of impoverished mothers in Third World nations snatching their children from them as it was 30 years ago.
Denmark was the first nation to legalize civil unions for same-sex spouses in 1989. However, when it relates to same-sex male parents, they must now go backward. Families may suffer actual damage if this does not happen.
