Momofone:
Can the original couple, the one who contracted for the baby, sue? Since this woman effective stole the baby by saying that she lost the baby when she did not, the couple may have a case.
Not under Belgian law. Actually the contract would be deemed null and void for lack of a legal consideration (I am using here the common law term for “cause” in French) according to art. 1108 of the Belgian Civil Code, but it would also violate art. 6 of the same civil code which prohibits any contract from violating public order. And anyway, you would never say that someone “stole” her own baby… Parenthood is normally not something that might be sold in Europe. Maybe in some US states…
Anyway, the final “parents” (those who paid 15.000 EUR) are not at the end of their pains. It appears that the adoption was probably irregular in international private law, and hence the Belgian tribunals will probably have their say, since the child is still a Belgian citizen.
Nevertheless, as I pointed out in my blog post, there are a number of Belgian MP’s who wish to authorize surrogate parenthood, even for homosexuals. It remains to see if it will go ahead.
And I do perfectly agree with Lisa and Elizabeth on finding the situation outrageous. But, here in Europe, it comes a bit as a shock to the people of the French-speaking regions. It was known that the Netherlands was a country where such disorders took place, but up to now, other countries have been spared this scourge.
Nevertheless, an interesting point was to notice the absolute silence of the Belgian Catholic Church. Cardinal Danneels of Belgium had written in his time (2001) that homosexuals would make “excellent priests”; maybe that explains why he doesn’t seem to have problems with this proposal.
Among other subjects on which Danneels kept silent: euthanasia, and homosexual marriage - yes, they have it here!
