Pinkas. 'Man and man" valid family unit
Photo: Osnat Krasnansky
State: Knesset should discuss surrogacy for single-sex families
In response to court regarding petition of couple Itai Pinkas, Yoav Arad to allow them parenthood via surrogacy, State also notes time may have come to rethink concept of family
The State Prosecutor's Office on Thursday submitted its response to the High Court regarding the petition of gay couple Itai Pinkas and Yoav Arad to allow them to have a child according to the surrogacy law. While it expressed its opposition, it also made some surprising observations.
The State claimed that permitting the request would have far-reaching implications, and that the most suitable body for deciding such an issue is the Knesset, and not the High Court.
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"The honorable court is reaching beyond the already dramatic step of repealing a law or a clause within a law, and actually legislating, adding text to the law, which is the task of legislators and not of the court," the State wrote.
"Permitting this request means significant social change which we must be aware of, in two areas, both of which are complex: direct (or deepened) recognition of single-sex family units, and significant broadening of the surrogacy arrangement."
In addition, since these implications are so significant, the State said "they extend beyond the legal aspect and have various philosophical, ethical, moral, educational and social aspects, and the most suitable body for addressing these issues is the Knesset."
However, the State also noted that the time may have come to reexamine the significance of the concept of family unit: "The social and cultural changes, technological developments, the separation between biological parenthood and social parenthood – all these things undermine basic premises that reigned supreme in the conception of family and present a social, moral and even legal challenge before us all."
The couple petitioned the court last month to instruct the State to permit them to become parents via surrogacy. They noted they had all relevant medical authorizations, yet the committee refused to recognize them because the surrogacy law determines that parents are "man and wife." They claim there is no essential reason not to interpret the law as applicable also to "man and man."
