WHEN THE LAW FALLS SILENT: SURROGACY IN GHANA

 By: Victoria Kompari

For many childless couples, assisted reproductive technology (ART) offers a ray of hope. Surrogacy, where a woman carries a pregnancy for intended parents, is increasingly practiced across health facilities in Ghana. However, beneath the promise of new life lies a complex web of legal loopholes, ethical dilemmas, and medical uncertainties that leave both surrogates and intended parents vulnerable.

Types of ART

While Act 1027 Section 22 provides a framework for registering children born through surrogacy, it fails to regulate the contracts or protect the rights of surrogate mothers during pregnancy. According to Lawyer Christian Lebrecht Malm-Hesse, a legal practitioner who has analyzed international surrogacy models, Ghana’s lack of statutory boundaries stands in stark contrast to global standards. “In the article I wrote, I did comparative legal analysis comparing the UK, US, and Australia to that of our jurisdictions,” he explained. “Theirs says for one to be a surrogate mother, you have to have a child before. You just can’t recruit a woman to go through childbirth... Another ethical issue is trait exploitation. Now there’s issue of underage ladies being recruited, and what does the law say? There is nothing in that direction.”

Medical equipment used for ART

Dr. Kwesi Gyamrah, a fertility specialist, stresses that the duty of care falls heavily on medical personnel to ensure surrogates are not exploited. "You have to think about the surrogate as a fellow human being," he explained. "We need to make sure it is not entirely a money-grasping business where vulnerable women are taken advantage of by recruitment agencies."

Beyond the legal debate, the clinical reality requires intricate precision. Fertility nurses and specialists handle delicate procedures to ensure safe embryo transfers. Here is a look at how clinical retrievals and transfers are conducted inside the lab:

Lawyer Christian Lebrecht Malm-Hesse, a vocal legal advocate, emphasizes that without comprehensive laws, enforcing contracts during medical complications remains a major hurdle. "When a woman undergoes bodily changes and doctors advise stopping, you cannot force contract enforcement in court," he noted. "We need clear regulations that mandate independent legal counsel for all parties."

As the proposed ART Bill remains stalled at the ministry level, Ghana’s surrogacy industry continues to operate in the shadows. Until a dedicated law is passed, doctors, surrogates, and intended parents must navigate this delicate medical journey without a legal safety net.