Brussels to host second 'Men Having Babies' surrogacy seminar

Men Having Babies, a US-based group of private clinics and agencies is due to hold a surrogate motherhood "fair" at the Grand Place Hilton Hotel in Brussels to introduce the idea of surrogacy to gay couples from across Europe, and not without dispute.

For the second time in two years in the capital, the group will host a conference, neither permitted nor prohibited, wherein prospective parents can browse catalogues depicting potential surrogate mothers. Attendees choose the women based on their "physical and intellectual characteristics".

The surrogate would be impregnated with the sperm of one of the men, in return for financial compensation, and would carry the baby to term.

MP Catherine Fonck (cdH) likened the event to “shopping,” adding that “the holding of this fair in Belgium is unacceptable".”

Fonck challenged the Minister of Justice, Koen Geens, to put a stop to the conference, to which he replied: “There is no legal basis in criminal law that would prohibit the holding of such a conference.”

Geens went on to say that he was “not at all opposed to a parliamentary initiative addressing this issue”.

The Men Having Babies gathering will take place on 24-25 September and entrance to the event costs €40.