I need to clarify why I am in Mexico. My last client undergoing surrogacy in Mexico departed with his twins in June 2016. Recently I was approached by a same sex couple who had undertaken their surrogacy journey in Mexico on their own. They had used an agency in Mexico infamous for its shortcuts and ignorance of local laws. Needless to say they got to the late stages of pregnancy only to discover that they would have difficulty obtaining a birth certificate for their child. The problem was that they had executed their surrogacy agreement just weeks before the deadline established under Tabasco State law for prohibiting surrogacy for foreigners and gay couples. Since the commencement of this year the authorities in Tabasco have steadfastly refused to issue any birth certificates for children born through surrogacy arrangements to foreign IPs.
I reluctantly agreed to assist them and here we are 2 months later with a birth certificate from the State of Chiapas because the surrogate delivered the baby in that State. The birth certificate was issued within 4 days of the child being discharged from hospital. This is due solely to the ingenuity and work of the Mexican lawyer (“L”) I have worked with for some years. He is really the only lawyer to use in Mexico if you are doing surrogacy. Congratulations to my clients and to L.
Given the change in law and the effluxion of time I doubt that any child born from now on would fall under the previous law on surrogacy so I expect that to have been the final baby born in Mexico through surrogacy arrangements for foreign IPs.
But more to come on a hybrid US / Mexico surrogacy program in my next post . . .
