The number of children a couple already has is not a sufficient reason to reject a surrogate motherhood application, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled this week. A married woman with three children, now 38 years old, had sought permission for a surrogate to carry a child for her and her husband. In 2007 she had a hysterectomy after her third child. A surrogacy approval committee rejected the request for a fourth child, on the grounds that surrogacy was only appropriate for childless applicants.

The couple argued that parenthood is a fundamental right, and therefore they should not be refused the possibility of using advanced medical technology to bring children into the world. A lower court rejected their application last year, saying that directives issued to the surrogacy board by the attorney general over 10 years ago defined two children as the fulfilment of a family’s right to parenthood.

This was the first time that the High Court had ruled on a decision of the surrogacy board. “We heard from the court that the board is not God and cannot determine how many children are ‘sufficient’ for a couple to have,” said the couple’s lawyer. “Let us hope that this verdict heralds the creation of new life.” ~ Haaretz, Jul 27