Israel's High Court of Justice has
ruled against the nation's ban on surrogacy for same-sex couples.
The court ruled on July 11 that denying
a surrogate to gay and lesbian couples is unlawful and the ban must
be withdrawn.
Plaintiffs in the case, Etai Pinkas and
Yoav Arad, played a prominent role in winning marriage rights for gay
couples in Israel. They are currently raising three children born via
surrogacy outside Israel. The couple won their case in February –
roughly ten years after they filed their challenge – and the court
ordered the Israeli government to create a new law. Israel's new
coalition government was unable to secure an agreement and asked the
court to rule.
The court ordered that the ban should
end within six months, Haaretz
reported.
Nitzan Horowitz, Israel's health
minister and the nation's first openly gay person to hold the post,
applauded the decision.
“Finally, equality!” he said in a
tweet.
Orthodox
leaders panned the decision. Aryeh Deri, head of the
Ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, called the ruling “a grave blow to the
state's Jewish identity.”