Surrogacy for gay male Israeli couples

Israeli laws concerning rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community are far more progressive than the laws which punish homosexuality in certain neighboring Middle Eastern countries.  The Israeli outlook on LGBT rights, from a legal perspective, at least, is also somewhat more progressive than the U.S.  For example, here in the United States, the Senate has just adjourned its two-day hearings on the possible repeal of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law.  Meanwhile, Israel has had members of the LGBT community serving openly in the military since 1993.  In this short documentary, Israel: Gay Oasis, there is a segment at 2:05 of an openly gay IDF soldier discussing his positive experience in the Israeli military.



Recently, a new legal question regarding LGBT rights has arisen in Israel, this one specifically concerning gay men.  The issue is the legality of surrogate parenthood for same-sex male couples.  According to this article from Forward: The Jewish Daily, Israeli women have been eligible for state-funded fertility treatments since the early 1990s.  Additionally, a 1996 law concerning surrogacy specifies that the Israeli Health Ministry is only to approve the procedure when it involves a couple consisting of a man and a woman.  Because of these circumstances, it is relatively easy for Israeli lesbian couples to have children as compared to gay Israeli men.

A gay couple from Tel Aviv is hoping that the law can be changed.  Last year, Etai Pinkas and Yoav Arad asked the Health Ministry to allow them the option of surrogacy, but were denied due to the 1996 law.  The couple hired Dori Spivak (the same lawyer who, in 2002, argued successfully for the right of gay partners to inherent the one’s property in the event of the other’s death based on the idea that the social norms upon which the 1964 inheritance law were based no longer applied) to take their petition to the high court.  Spivak believes that the intent of the wording of the 1996 law (i.e. the clause specifying eligibility for surrogacy to “a man and a woman who are a couple”) did not intend to deprive gay men the right to the option of surrogacy.  If this argument does not alone convince the court, Spivak will argue that “the existing law clashes with the guarantees of equality in the 1992 Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty.”

Unfortunately for Pinkas, Arad, and the rest of Israel’s gay male population who would like to become parents via a surrogate, they will have to wait at least a year for a Health Ministry committee’s review of the current law.  Meanwhile, in an initial response to the court, the Israeli government sounds open to the idea of revising the law, but says the decision should come from the Knesset, not the court. 

Pinkas and Arad are currently trying another option, wherein the entire surrogacy process is carried out in another country.  This trend began about five years ago when some gay Israeli couples had children through American surrogates.  The process was expensive, however, costing up to $150,000.  One couple who went the American surrogate route was Doron Gidony and Doron Mamet.  Recognizing the fact that many gay couples in Israel might find themselves wanting children, but unable to afford the process he and Gidony went through, Mamet founded Tammuz which “outsources” the process to India.  A fertilized egg from an American donor is carried by an Indian surrogate, significantly reducing the cost of the process.  Pinkas and Arad are now in the process with Tammuz.

Dorion Gidony (left), his partner, Dorion Mamet, and their daughter

This “outsourcing” of surrogacy is a controversial matter, and is the subject of the HBO documentary Google Baby by Israeli director Zippi Frank.  In the synopsis of the film, Frank says, “The business aspects of the reproduction industry are intriguing, as well as frightening.  With no real existing legal barriers to overcome and lots of money to be made, the human reproduction industry is steaming ahead, and a cold and distant business is emerging, guided only by the principles of the free-market dealing.  Given the complexities and sensitive issues surrounding reproduction and birth, this could be dangerous.”

Trailer

Gidony and Mamet’s story, as well as the Tammuz business, are highlighted in the documentary.  It appears to be a critical documentary, but Mamet offers a rebuttal to critical elements of it on the Tammuz website, saying, “When I look at the impact of the movie I'm feeling ambivalence. On one end surrogacy and egg donation is a morally loaded topic - people are uncomfortable with it and more so when it happens in India. On the other end, there are thousands of couples in the world for whom this is the only way to make their parenting dream come true; and there are many women for whom surrogacy is the only way to get their family out of poverty. Morality cannot be inferred in a vacuum without considering all impacted sides; I for one believe that there is a big moral issue with those who seek to decide for me or to interfere with my chances to be father and with the chances of a surrogate to help her family (I urge anybody to think of their reaction if some social moral standards were denying them their parenting right).”

The source for the main article was Forward: The Jewish Daily, which, according to Wikipedia, is an American publication founded in 1897 by Yiddish socialist labor party members, and today “maintains a left of center editorial stance.”  This could have something to do with why the article discusses Mamet’s business, but leaves out the part about it being controversial.  The other sources were the Tammuz website and HBO’s webpage for Google Baby.  In these cases, either side has a major bias toward its own viewpoint on this “morally loaded” topic.  For Mamet, the work he does is a product of his own struggle to become a parent and his desire to help others in his situation do the same.  For Zippi Frank, the “reproduction industry” making it possible to order babies over the internet has frightening implications. 

I think both sides have a point. Ultimately, it seems like a good idea if the Knesset just changes the 1996 law so gay couples don't have to go outside of Israel to find a surrogate.