On the Constitutionality, or not, of Surrogacy: Decision 225/2018 of the Portuguese Constitutional Court

Abstract

Surrogacy is regulated in the Spanish legal system in article ten of Law 14/2006, of 26 May, on assisted human reproduction techniques (LTRHA), which declares the nullity of surrogacy arrangements. One of the questions that dominates the legal debate is whether a regulation that would validate this practice would fit into the Spanish Constitution, a question that is more than complicated to confront since our Constitutional Court has not had the opportunity to rule on surrogacy. Recently, however, the Portuguese Constitutional Court, in its Decision 225/2018, has ruled on the matter. Given that the Court’s arguments may be of great interest for the debate in Spain, this article analyses this judgment in depth and brings it closer to Spanish research on the subject.