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Claim: A Human Rights lawyer asserts that surrogacy is illegal in Nigeria.
Verdict: Misleading. Experts say that there are no clear laws stating surrogacy in Nigeria is illegal.
Full Text
Surrogacy is a reproductive arrangement where a woman (the surrogate) agrees to carry a pregnancy and give birth to a child for another person or couple (the intended parents). This process allows individuals or couples who are unable to conceive or carry a pregnancy to have a child genetically related to them.
Surrogacy in Nigeria has gained attention as a reproductive option for couples struggling with infertility or those who cannot carry a pregnancy themselves.
Sahara Reporters, on Instagram, posted an interview on Arise Television that has sparked controversy where Human rights lawyer Sonnie Ekwowusi said surrogacy is illegal in Nigeria.
Speaking in the video, Mr Ekwowusi explained that surrogacy is against natural law and is called “womb renting.”
“The woman carrying babies for nine months becomes an object, and it is not fair. Surrogacy is the greatest violation of a woman’s dignity,” he said.
Since it was posted on April 24, 2024, the video has garnered 338 likes, 95 comments, and 124 shares.
The post can also be seen on Facebook Here, here, here, and here.
The topic’s sensitive nature and the post’s virality made DUBAWA verify the claim’s veracity.
Verification
In a journal on African Human Rights law, Olanike Adelakun, a lecturer at the American University of Nigeria, explained that surrogacy is not expressly prohibited in Nigeria. It is, however, not legally acknowledged. As such, if a person engages in surrogate motherhood or enters into a surrogate contract in Nigeria, such a person cannot be said to have committed a crime.
With no legislative measures to regulate surrogacy in Nigeria, most artificial reproductive technology clinics in Nigeria base their operations on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority Guidelines of the United Kingdom.
The Nigerian Law Reform Commission has recommended that any child born to a woman as a result of artificial insemination or implantation of an embryo in the body of a woman while she is in a marriage must be regarded as a child of the husband.
The Commission further recommends that where a child is born under a surrogacy agreement, the commissioning parents should formally adopt the child, even if the child is the biological child of the commissioning parents.
Expert Opinion
We spoke to Achille Elizabeth, a Nigerian lawyer who explained that surrogacy has no clear laws.
“Our laws are quiet about it. What people talk about is based on religion, culture, religion, ethics, or personal views. If surrogacy were a crime, a lot of hospitals, especially fertility clinics, would be shut down.
“Surrogacy is assisted reproduction, where you find a lot of people donating eggs, and assisted reproduction is not yet a crime in Nigeria. In 2017, a bill to amend the National Health Act to include artificial reproductive technology didn’t pass the second reading. So you can see, there are no clear laws surrounding the concept of surrogacy,” she concluded.
Christiana Longe, another Nigerian Lawyer, noted that section 30, quoted in the video, does not relate to surrogacy.
“The fact that something is not provided in the law does not make it illegal,” she noted that anyone considering surrogacy in Nigeria should have an agreement or contract to support their decision.
She concluded by advising that both parties (surrogate and parents) should have lawyers to represent them before the procedure starts.
Conclusion
The claim that surrogacy is illegal in Nigeria is misleading. Section 30 of the Child Rights Act is not quoted in the video related to surrogacy. The lawyers DUBAWA spoke to also clarified that there are no clear laws surrounding surrogacy in Nigeria.
