Surrogacy: A Novelty Concept in North Macedonia.
Surrogacy has existed since ancient times. Depending on the way of creating an embryo, two types of surrogacy differ, traditional and gestational. When it comes to monetary compensation, two types of surrogacy exist, altruistic and commercialized. A lot of questions come to light such as: Is the altruistic surrogacy a humane gesture for all contracted parties? What if the mother
changes her mind? Do the babies born of surrogacy mothers have rights? In North Macedonia, surrogacy was introduced for the first time in 2014 in the amended Law on Biomedicine and Assisted Fertilization. The amended law applies the term gestational mother and provides a
liberal stance, but many provisions are unclear.
Depending on the way of creating an embryo we differentiate between two types of surrogacy-traditional and gestational. When it comes to monetary compensation, two types exist-altruistic and commercialized. Women engaged in surrogacy are not free of risks and complication during pregnancy. Some studies showed that apart from death, among surrogates there are cases of preeclampsia, Graves’ disease, depression and other diseases.
Countries in the world have different laws regulating surrogacy. Countries such as Canada, Australia, Belgium and Greece prohibit commercial surrogacy, whilst allowing altruistic ones.
Countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, allow both types. On .the other hand, a vast majority of European countries such as Sweden, Germany, Spain, and France outlawed all types of surrogacy.
In North Macedonia, any type of surrogacy was illegal until 2014. The law as of 2008 prohibited all types of surrogacy. In 2014 a new law was adopted regulating gestational surrogacy. Provisions in the law prohibit any payments that could commercialize the service by the gestational mother.
Women Health Open J. 2021; 7(1): 4-6. doi: 10.17140/WHOJ-7-140
