How ROPA could serve as a legal and ethical alternative to surrogacy in Spain?

Spain has listed itself into the category of European countries that have banned surrogacy within their legal territories. So, if you want to pursue surrogacy in Spain, you may have to opt for alternative destinations.

We know that surrogacy is completely illegal in Spain. Yet, there are certain surrogacy agency in Spain that are helping intended parents with surrogacy programs in nearby countries like Cyprus, Georgia, Greece and Ukraine.

While these agencies hire a surrogate mother in Spain, they carry through their services in a foreign territory. In the following parts of this article, we will talk about some lesser known aspects of surrogacy laws in Spain.

What does surrogacy laws in Spain says about surrogacy ?

Spain is a part of the European Union. That said, no matter whether surrogacy is commercial or altruistic,  Article 10(1) of Law 14/2006 establishes that surrogacy, or the maternal parentage in favor of a contractor or third party is banned in the country. This demonstrates how the surrogacy laws are rigidly enforced and offer little protection for intended parents. 

Moreover, surrogacy was deemed illegal because, according to a finding by the European Parliament in 2015, it "undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity." So, if a Spanish couple wanted to undergo a surrogacy via surrogacy agency in Spain, they would have to look for a service abroad and sign an international contract. However, the child's filiation is not recognized by law at the time of birth.

Also, the majority of Spanish authorities have nonetheless permitted parents to bring their child to Spain to be raised as their own; however, this complicates parental rights even further because the child is gets registered at the country or region of birth rather than Spain.

On the other hand, because many factors are disregarded by the court, the implied lack of protections with regard to residences and legal parentage demonstrates that there are many inconsistencies in the regulation of this law.

Additionally, the type of relationship between the couple affects the legal protections that are granted and the options for conception, so this is further investigated with same-sex couples. For instance, Spanish law permits a shared biological motherhood process for same-sex couples who are both females.

That said, according to Law 14/2006, this procedure is known as ROPA (Reception of Oocytes from the Partner), or reciprocal IVF. This process is essentially the same as a traditional surrogacy in that one of the women, the genetic mother, contributes the egg (the genetic material), and the other, the biological mother, carries the pregnancy (via her womb). So, contrary to Article 10(1) of Law 14/2006, same-sex female couples show that surrogacy is actually regulated and legal in a certain context.

What is ROPA (Reception of Oocytes from the Partner)?

While the legal restrictions on surrogacy in Spain is a big jolt on the hopes of numerous intended parents, ROPA has come of some help for many of them. ROPA (Reception of Oocytes from the Partner). During the process, two women can achieve conception via assisted reproductive technique and a donor sperm.

With the help of this technique, both the women can partake in the process of pregnancy. While one of the women would be the biological mother, other would serve as the child’s legal mother. In layman’s terms, one of the women would serve as an egg donor while the other one would carry the child after the embryo transfer process.

In order to donate the eggs for in vitro fertilization (IVF), the donor woman must go through ovarian stimulation. The procedure to collect the eggs will be done in the IVF centre while you are sedated and take about ten minutes. Moreover, the embryo development process will be tracked in the lab from the time the eggs are fertilized with the donor sperm until they are transferred five days later.

On the other hand, the intended mother must receive oestrogen-based endometrial preparation therapy. While she is undergoing ovarian stimulation, this endometrial preparation is being done at the same time. Moreover, the embryos will be transferred into the recipient's uterus in order to induce pregnancy after the recipient's endometrium has been prepared and the embryos have been developed in the lab.

How ROPA could help numerous Spanish same sex female couples in achieving parenthood ?

Spanish laws allows ROPA and that could really prove to be a game changer for most of the same sex female couples in the country. So, technically, they are following the same procedure as a same sex surrogacy in Spain. On the other side, they are not breaking any laws related to surrogacy procedure in the country.

Also, until the entire surrogacy procedure gets legal in Spain, ROPA could be used as an ethical way to achieve motherhood for these intended parents. Now, as you proceed with your child seeking aspirations, don’t forget to connect with a recognized surrogacy agency in Spain.

Doing that, you can always ensure that no law is broken and no regulations are violated en route to your parenthood goals. That said, it is not that easy to shortlist a trusted surrogacy agency in Spain given the ban on the procedure within the country.

That said, there are few easy ways to connect with a genuine and trusted entity in the same regard. First up, you must check and verify the background of the agency. Secondly, you must check whether they duly understand the aforementioned surrogacy laws in Spain.

Thirdly, see whether they can facilitate the entire process with the help and support of their partner egg donor agencies and egg donor banks. On the other hand, do confirm that the agency should’ve dealt with cases related to ROPA in the past.

This way, they can actually differentiate between surrogacy in Spain and ROPA while helping you in reaching to your parenthood goals.

Final words

Surrogacy in Spain is not legal. Yet ROPA comes as a viable alternative for same sex female couples in the country to achieve parenthood. Moreover, if you are a single parent, heterosexual couples or a same sex male couple, we would advise you to opt for surrogacy in other countries like Cyprus, Greece, Georgia and Ukraine.