The birth through surrogacy of what, according to what Ana Obregón herself has revealed, is her granddaughter has opened a whole debate about the legal implications that the registration in the Civil Registry of this little girl can bring and the problems that the Spanish actress and businesswoman can face.
Related news
A week ago the news broke that Ana Obregón, at 68, became a mother thanks to surrogacy, a technique prohibited in Spain, but legal in countries like Canada and USA, as far as the famous presenter has gone to have the baby.
This Wednesday, in an interview on ‘Hola’, the actress stated that the newborn girl is actually her granddaughter, since the frozen sperm of her son Alejandro Lequio García, who died at the age of 27, in May, was used for her conception. 2020 as a result of cancer. Beyond the bioethical debates, the case raises a handful of legal and procedural questions. They are the following
Can there be problems registering the girl?
The answer is yes. This was explained to EFE by the member of the Spanish Association of Family Lawyers, Maria Dolores Lopez-Muelaswhich, although it recognizes the many unknowns that the case hides, warns that, if the newborn is the son of Ana Obregón, it is possible that its registration in the Civil Registry can be challenged, since it is contrary to Spanish public order.
And the main reason is that, according to the assisted reproduction lawpostmortem fertilization could not be carried out 12 months after the death of the father (Alejandro Lequio died in May 2020), so that, despite having a holographic will with his consent, in Spain after 12 months the postmortem fertilization.
¿What formalities are there to perform?
The fact is that the actress must have a girl’s birth certificate and one judicial sentence that determines that the surrogate mother has renounced the baby and that the case has all the legal requirements that are required in the US, where surrogacy is allowed.
This judicial process, together with the sentence and the birth certificate, is what is taken to the consular Civil Registry in Miami, where the girl was born and it is there where Obregón will try to register the minor in Spain with her name. She will be listed as mother.
For the girl to be registered in Spain, this process must be approved by the person in charge of the Civil Registrywhich has to check if the sentence meets all the requirements that would be required in a similar Spanish proceeding: if it has the will of the mother, with an authentic birth certificate, a final decision against which there is no appeal and that have complied with all the procedural guarantees that are complied with in Spain.
“If this procedure meets those requirements, that girl can be registered in Spain”says López-Muelas.
Who will be listed as the legal mother?
What is the problem? That Ana Obregón has revealed that the girl’s father is actually her son.
“I do not know the judicial decision, but that document will be looked at with a magnifying glass because it seems that the genetic material is from the son,” he warns. It may be that this point is not mentioned in the sentence and only the intentional mother appears, which is Ana Obregón. If so, says the expert, there would be no problem registering it here. “However, if the girl is the daughter of her son, that registration could be challenged in Spain by the Prosecutor’s Office because it is contrary to Spanish public order.”
Thus, everything will depend on what appears in that judicial decision, although this expert presumes that the Spanish actress and businesswoman “will be very well advised” and imagines that the father will not be recorded in the Registry, but that Ana Obregón will simply appear. as an intentional mother.
Another of the scenarios that López-Muelas opens up is the possibility of the girl being registered in Spain and the Prosecutor’s Office acting against that registration because it is contrary to our legal system.
In that case, she could start legal proceedings in Spain and, if that happens, López-Muelas warns, it would generate jurisprudence because the social and legal reality is very changeable.
“There are many questions,” concludes this Family Law expert who believes that the court decision brought by Ana Obregón from the US will be studied in depth to verify whether or not the minor can be registered in Spain.