SUMMARY
By two decisions issued on 3 July 2026 granting recognition and enforcement (exequatur) of Canadian judgments rendered in execution of surrogacy agreements, the French Court of Cassation claims to have sought “a delicate balance between the French prohibition of surrogacy and the best interests of the child, once born,” within the framework established by the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.
The Court further states that, although surrogacy remains prohibited under French law, the legal effects of surrogacy agreements concluded abroad may nevertheless be recognized in the name of the child’s best interests.
What the Casablanca Declaration Experts Say
The experts of the Casablanca Declaration fully share the concern to ensure the rights and protection of every child. No child should bear the consequences of decisions made by adults before the child’s birth.
However, granting recognition and enforcement (exequatur) to foreign judgments does not serve the best interests of the child; rather, it serves the interests of the adults who obtained the child through surrogacy. Indeed, while the 2021 French law clearly endorsed adoption by the intended parent, thereby providing the child with a civil status that reflects his or her personal history and corresponds to reality, recognition and enforcement of the Canadian judgments will result in the issuance of a French birth certificate identifying the two men as the child’s fathers from birth, as though both had given birth to the child. Such a civil status record is contrary to the factual reality and therefore inconsistent with the principles of French law.
Beyond the question of the child’s civil status, these decisions reveal a reality that can no longer be ignored: French law is not being respected but circumvented, and the courts are now validating—and thereby encouraging—that circumvention. It is sufficient for intended parents to enter into a surrogacy arrangement in a country where the practice is lawful and, subject only to the surrogate mother’s consent, obtain direct recognition of that legal situation in France, as though such consent could override French law.
Protecting children born through surrogacy is undoubtedly a priority. However, this objective is not incompatible with combating surrogacy; on the contrary, it requires it. The only effective way to protect children is through prevention: preventing surrogacy arrangements from taking place in the first place and thereby sparing as many children as possible from being conceived under such arrangements.
As France has already begun preparing for the next revision of its bioethics legislation through the national bioethics consultations, the experts of the Casablanca Declaration call on the public authorities to act upstream in order to genuinely safeguard the best interests of the child. Those interests cannot be reduced to addressing the legal consequences of situations that have already been created; they must also guide legislative choices aimed at preventing children from being deliberately conceived under surrogacy agreements.
Accordingly, the experts of the Casablanca Declaration are making available to Members of Parliament, the Government, and all public decision-makers a proposal for legislative reform designed to strengthen the effectiveness of France’s prohibition of surrogacy, combat cross-border reproductive tourism, and ensure coherent protection of the rights of children, women, and human dignity.
Download our proposed legislation (in french)
Only international cooperation and stronger national legislation will put an end to cross-border reproductive exploitation and ensure lasting protection for children, women, and the fundamental principles of the rule of law.