UK surrogacy is now possible for intended parents living with HIV

We are thrilled to share that UK law has been amended by Parliament to remove the bar on HIV+ intended parents conceiving through UK surrogacy. On 22 October 2024, new regulations passed through both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, allowing intended parents living with HIV whose viral load is undetectable to conceive their own biological children through surrogacy at UK fertility clinics.

Where we stand:

It follows a six year campaign in which we at NGA Law and Brilliant Beginnings have been proud to have played a part.

In 2017, our director Natalie Gamble first spoke about the problems faced by HIV+ intended parents at an event for World AIDS Day run by P3 and the Terence Higgins Trust, and the following year was invited to speak on the issue again to the British HIV Association national conference. At both, Natalie shone a spotlight on the fact that UK law prevented intended parents living with HIV from using their own gametes to conceive a child if they needed the help of a surrogate (something which particularly affected gay men living with HIV).

The National AIDS Trust and BHIVA picked up the baton and have worked tirelessly ever since to persuade government, regulators and fertility science advisors that the law needed bringing in line with modern science. And last week their efforts finally came to fruition with Parliament’s passage of new regulations.

What does this mean for intended parents living with HIV?

People living with HIV have, for many years and with the right medication, been able to maintain an undetectable viral load which means there is zero risk of them passing on the infection to anyone else (including a surrogate), and they can live essentially normal lives. However, fertility regulations until now required anyone transferring sperm or eggs to a surrogate to be not just HIV undetectable but HIV negative. In practice this represented a complete block on HIV+ parents from any chance of conceiving their own biological child through surrogacy at UK fertility clinics.

As of last week, that is no longer the case. Intended parents living with HIV – provided they are on a stable and established programme of medication to make their viral load undetectable – will now have the same chance of having a biological child through UK surrogacy as any other parents.

We are delighted to see the law moving forward to reflect modern realities, and we are looking forward to supporting parents living with HIV on their surrogacy journeys.