Medically Assisted Procreation: Review of Recent Legal Developments in Portugal

The Law no. 17/2016 and the Law no. 25/2016 have introduced relevant changes in the legal regime of medically assisted procreation in Portugal, established by the Law no. 32/2006. Surrogate motherhood was introduced by the Law no. 25/2016 (although in quite restrictive terms) and the Law no. 17/2016 allows any woman to use medically assisted procreation methods, regardless of infertility causes, changing the existing paradigm. The Portuguese Constitutional Court was called to evaluate the constitutionality of some of the provisions of the Acts, particularly those concerning surrogacy, and some aspects of the regime were actually declared unconstitutional. The aim of this project was, therefore, to evaluate the consequences of these changes in many legal fields, (Constitutional Law, Law of Succession, Private International Law, Family Law) and also if they could be considered to promote gender equality.

Duration: 2018-2019.

PI: Benedita Mac Crorie

Team: Anabela Gonçalves, Cristina Dias, Diana Coutinho, Isa António, Mariana Boçon, Miriam Rocha, Sónia Moreira, Rossana Costa.

JusGov Research Groups: DH