Israel Updates Progressive Surrogacy Laws

By Rachel Max ‘24
    In a huge step towards equality for the LGBTQ+ community in Israel, the country has made it legal for same-sex couples, transgender people and single men to have children through surrogacy. 

Human and gay rights activists had been pushing for this change for years; until now, surrogacy was available only to heterosexual couples and single women. In 2020, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the law was discriminatory, but no action was taken until July 2021 when the court gave the government a six month deadline to enact a new policy.
    The news was announced in a January tweet from Nitzan Horowitz, Israel’s Minister of Health, who wrote that the law would finally be going into effect on January 11, 2022, and spoke of his dream to make the Israeli healthcare system the most inclusive in the world. 
Horowitz was one of the biggest advocates for changes to this law, as well as other discriminatory policies regarding the LGBTQ+ community. 
“I think this is great, it's very progressive, and that’s what I expect from Israel,” said Freshman Ari Jacobs.
“People don’t realize that having a baby isn’t always easy.  When couples are non-traditional it can be even harder, so this really is a great move by Israel.  Everyone should be able to have the joy of parenthood,” said language arts teacher Ms. Jankoski.
During a press conference a day after the tweet, Horowitz said, “As a gay minister, who is well aware of the humiliation of exclusion, which we have suffered over the years, this was one of the key factors in shaping my political worldview. The struggle for equality by the LGBTQ community and in general is my personal struggle. It is what has guided me throughout my life. I therefore decided to turn the Ministry of Health into the flagship for equality for all citizens of Israel.”
Some people are worried that the amended law could be overturned by a future right wing government. Former Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said that he supported amending the law, but he wasn't willing to oppose his ultra-Orthodox supporters.
However, an overturn doesn’t seem likely, as the consensus of the Israeli political establishment recognizes that many wanted the change to happen but didn’t want to pay the political cost for making the change. Yet, now that the political difficulties have already been overcome, there is little chance the change will be overturned. As one ultra-Orthodox member of the Knesset said, “We will not overturn this, because in some way Horowitz took the chestnuts out of the fire for us.”
With this long-fought battle over, Horowitz is one step closer to his dream of an inclusive and equal system, proving that even long-standing discriminatory laws can be erased with enough work. In the future, with Israel combating these inequalities, perhaps other governments may begin to amend their exclusive policies, as well.