The Appeals Court of Stockholm (Svea Court of Appeal) has recognized a judgment by Family Court of the State of Rhode Island, Providence, USA, according to which two Swedish men are the sole legal parents of a daughter born by a surrogate mother in the US.

Surrogacy as a legal concept does not exist in Sweden and there are therefor no statutory rules around surrogacy as a way of becoming parents.

The Stockholm Appeals Court, however, noted with respect to one of the men that there was no doubt that he was indeed the biological father of the child since his sperms had been used for the medically assisted procreation procedures leading to the conception of the child, and that regarding the other man Swedish adoption law would make it possible for him to adopt his partner’s child and thus become the child’s second legal parent under Swedish law anyway. Finally the Court pointed to Sweden’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the fact that it must be considered in the best interest of this child, who at the time of the court’s decision had no legal parents under Swedish law, that the US court decision be recognized in Sweden. The decision is final.

Hans Ytterberg

The full text of the judgment (in Swedish only)