The United Kingdom, after amending its relevant laws, recognized the right to parental leave to parents of children born through surrogacy, but only for children who are expected to be born at April 5, 2015 and onwards.

Nowadays, the biological father is entitled to two weeks of paternity leave. However, he can not have any additional paternity leave, unless the surrogate mother meets certain requirements as to the expiry date of her own maternity leave. Furthermore, the social parents are denied the rights of biological parents and their best chance is the unpaid parental leave of only 18 weeks only maximum-and at the discretion of their employer. Some social parents are even forced to use their annual leave, in order to welcome their born through surrogacy child.

As we know, the expected date of birth can be moved in time after the second quarter ultrasound. Therefore, some couples can take advantage of the new law (parental leave and job position ensured) at the beginning, but then this can change. This is due to the fact that the probable birth date is estimated at 40 weeks from the first day of the last menstrual period. However, this rule applies only to women with a stable menstrual cycle of 28 days. Therefore, the actual birth date does not always coincide with the probable one. The actual birth date can be established only by controlling the growth of the fetus via ultrasound. Thus, the arbitrary selection of April 5, 2015 creates a gap in the labor rights of future parents. Therefore, future parents should check the birth date throughout pregnancy with their physician.

Source: www.bionews.org.uk