in Greece
Greece has had legal altruistic surrogacy and Egg Donors available since 2002, regulated by Article 1458 of the Greek Civil Code and Law 3305/2005 – Enforcement of Medically Assisted Reproduction.
Although the law provides that surrogacy is to be altruistic it expressly exempts the payment of necessary expenses for the IVF, pregnancy and delivery in addition to the restitution of damages and lost wages for any unpaid leave of absence during the pregnancy.
Since July 2014 surrogacy in Greece has become available to non-EU citizens.
Eligibility
IPs must be a married or unmarried heterosexual couple or a single woman. There is no requirement for the embryos created to have any biological link with either IP, however where donor embryos are used, this may lead to significant complications in regard to passport applications, particularly for citizens of the UK.
Egg Donors
Greek clinics can provide properly screened egg donors, although donation is anonymous under Greek law, so photos of egg donors are not available. Instead the donors physical characteristics can be specified by intended parents. You can also use your own donor if they are anonymous. Eggs/embryos/sperm are able to be shipped directly from your registered clinic to those Greek clinics with import licences.
Surrogate Screening
Advertising for surrogates is prohibited, yet there are a handful of Greek IVF clinics (see Providers page) who have a pool of surrogates to draw from. Rigorous screening of surrogates is carried out to ensure they have their own child already and meet appropriate psychological and medical criteria. Intended Parents are not able to ‘choose’ their surrogate. Instead, as in Ukraine and Georgia, a surrogate is assigned to you. There is no wait time for surrogates from certain Greek clinics currently. UK citizens are matched with unmarried or divorced surrogates, as this makes UK citizenship a given, hence a shorter exit process.
Pre-Arrangement Court Approval
Court approval of surrogacy arrangements is obtained PRIOR to embryo transfer. A handful of Greek surrogacy providers & lawyers (see Providers page) will handle this entire process for you. It takes 2-3 months. You are not always required to be present for the court proceedings. A copy of the surrogacy agreement is submitted to the court. If the surrogate is married then the consent of her husband must also be provided to the court.
The judgement of the court will state that the parties are eligible under Greek law to enter into a surrogacy arrangement and will say that any child conceived is the child of the IPs and not the surrogate. The surrogate has no capacity to change her mind once the embryo transfer has occurred.
Child’s Status
When the child is born it will take on the citizenship of the IPs according to their laws. The child is not entitled to Greek citizenship.
Surrogate Support
Surrogates live in their own accommodation. However clinics provides a nurse to monitor and care for the surrogate from the time she first enters the program (this will be at least three months prior to embryo transfer) until at least 2 months after delivery of the child.
Processes
The step-by-step process is as follows:
- IPs obtain medical evidence of their inability to have children (letter from doctor)
- IPs sign an agreement with the clinic
- IPs are offered a surrogate mother
- Greek lawyer prepares surrogacy agreement and court documents
- IPs travel to Greece to execute the agreement, meet all relevant clinic staff and provide their instructions on embryo transfer
- IPs provide gametes or embryos if applicable
- Court application lodged & verified after 6 – 8 weeks
- Surrogate medical preparation commences
- Embryo transfer takes place
- IPs informed of a tentative transfer date
- At birth the judgement together with the surrogacy agreement and other documentation are presented to the hospital and civil registry for the issue of a birth certificate containing the names of the IPs as parents
SURROGACY ADVICE
Surrogacy & Egg Donation is a complex area and you deserve to know everything involved. Too often intended parents engage without full awareness of the risks and how best to minimise the chance of problems. To book in for a Surrogacy Advice Consultation with Growing Families Director Sam Everingham see our Fill our consultation form.
EXPERT TALKS
Expert providers and parents who have completed their family via this destination frequently talk at Growing Families Events. To attend an event to learn more about this destination and other options see our Event Schedule.
