Surrogacy vs The Law

At the end of September, Advocate General (“AG”) Wahl of the European Court of Justice gave an opinion that an Irish woman had not been discriminated against by her employer when she was refused paid maternity or adoptive leave after her child was born through a surrogate. This was in contrast to the opinion of AG Kokott delivered on the same day in a
separate UK case, where he expressed the view that mothers whose children are born through surrogacy are covered by EU maternity protection rules.

These cases, referred to as the ‘Z’ case and the ‘C.D. v S.T.’ case respectively, highlight the level of uncertainty surrounding the legal position of mothers whose children are