A few days ago my son told me that in class they had been talking about surrogacy or rent belly, and explained that the teacher had told him that it was better to call it "surrogacy" because the "rent belly" sounded worse. The fact is that I was thoughtful because you can actually put the name you want, but often it is nothing more than the transfer of a woman's uterus in exchange for money, creating a situation that can lead to some problems such as The one we tell you today.
Stefano Franke and Arnout Janssen are the main couple of the story. They reside in Twente, Holland, and a little over a year ago they decided to become parents. For this they contacted a woman who agreed to gestate a baby through an artificial insemination. The egg would be hers and the sperm of one of the two. The problem was that the baby that was born turned out to be from the woman's partner, so Stefano and Arnout have run out of "their daughter."
She didn't have to have sex
The usual thing, especially to try to avoid the logical emotional implications of women, is that the ovule is from a donor (and even then, the woman often suffers from separation). However, as we read in La Voz de Galicia, what they had decided was to carry out an insemination and, logically, those days the woman did not have sex with her husband until she was pregnant.
However, although she says they maintained relations with protection, a DNA test at the request of the biological father has just confirmed that The girl who was born on May 8 has no relationship with Franke or Janseen, so custody has passed to the biological parents, and they have just run out of what they already considered to be their daughter.
And they can't report?
Not because In Holland, surrogacy is not regulated, but neither is punished. There is a legal vacuum that allows it to be carried out, but that does not protect those affected because there is no possibility of formalizing a legal contract, nor a law that protects the contracting parties. So all they have is the conversations they had on the Internet, the agreements they reached, which they have no legal validity in this case.
That is why they have publicly complained about feeling helpless, without rights, and in the hands only of the goodwill of a woman they had to trust, hoping that his word would not be lacking.
The fourth daughter of the family
Now the girl will become part of her new family, which is actually her biological family, being the fourth, because he already has three brothers. Both the wife and the husband have stated that they have no intention of reaching any agreement with the couple of men, who feels hurt and with damaged trust, after seeing "her daughter" being born, after taking care of her for a few days, and after seeing how justice has taken her hands.
Can this happen in Spain?
In theory no, because in Spain surrogacy is a practice not allowed. However, having countries where it can be done, there are companies that make it easier for couples in Spain to rent a belly in those countries (made the law, cheated). This week the Bioethics Committee positioned itself in favor of prohibiting surrogacy, not only at the state level, but also fine companies that are making it possible for many Spanish couples to have children gestated by other women.
The ban would avoid cases like the Dutch couple, basically because the agreement between the two couples would be a crime.
If it were allowed, although there are those who say that such cases would also be avoided, something even worse could happen: for the mother to refuse to deliver the baby once she was born. And in these cases, the law should clearly define who has custody, and the last thing that should happen is that babies end up "raffled up" in court, I think.
