Update July 24, 2023:
Following our earlier communication below regarding a draft law aimed at regulating surrogacy in Colombia, we must inform you that the Bill has been defeated and will not advance further.
While the current outcome signifies a positive development, it is important to note that the possibility of another member of Congress attempting to draft an alternative version of the Bill in the future cannot be entirely ruled out. However, as of now, the threat of closing off surrogacy in Colombia for foreign intended parents has been averted.
Original Communication:
In the surrogacy industry, as in other specialized industries or communities, it is important to get accurate information from those who live or work within those industries or communities. Unfortunately, we continue to see misinformation and self-serving inaccuracies being published and it seems to be increasing in these times where many surrogacy businesses are losing their clients or ability to operate as a direct or indirect consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This simple answer to the question posed in the heading of this post is: “No, we don’t think so”. But things are a little more complicated than that.
At the beginning of 2023 an activist member of Congress drafted a Bill that would provide written regulations for surrogacy (a good idea) but that Bill, if enacted, would effectively ban foreign intended parents from undertaking surrogacy unless they had resided in Colombia for more than 3 years.
A copy of the draft Bill in English is available here.
Our lawyers and some of the doctors in the clinics we work with have been involved in providing submissions to the Congress on the draft Bill. Needless to say many IVF clinics oppose the Bill in its current form as they do not want to exclude foreign patients. No-one knows the final form of the Bill because it has not yet been debated in the Congress.
Our lawyers have advised that in order for the Bill to progress to be a law in force there are many steps and processes that must be taken. Their assessment is that if the Bill were to progress through the Congress, without opposition or any impediment then it would be at least 18 months to 2 years before it came into effect. The Colombian government has a good record of enacting transitional provisions that would protect the rights of any intended parents and surrogates who were already pregnant at the time any new law came into effect.
The Bill has already suffered a delay because, in order to progress, it had to follow certain steps during the session in which it was introduced (first session of 2023) and it did not achieve those milestones. So now it will need to follow those steps during the upcoming session commencing in late July. Until the Bill passes those steps the 18 month clock will not start ticking.
In summary this potential change to the law is something that we are watching closely and if and when the Bill progresses we will then review the likely timeline and the content of any amended Bill to determine whether we should proceed with new clients or perhaps slow down the intake of intended parents.
