Facts
On May 17, 2012, the twins D.A. and E.A. were born in California. The California birth certificates list B.A. (mother) and A.A. (father) as the parents. Based on this, B.A. and A.A. demanded the registration of the children in the civil status register in Switzerland. However, the Department of Economics and Interior of the Canton of Aargau rejected the recognition and registration, as surrogacy is prohibited in Switzerland and the recognition of such births from abroad would violate Swiss public policy (ordre public).
B.A. and A.A. then filed a complaint with the High Court of the Canton of Aargau and subsequently with the Federal Supreme Court. The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the complaint.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court stated that the recognition of a parent-child relationship established abroad through surrogacy, without any genetic relationship between the child and the parents, clearly violates Swiss public policy (ordre public). The prohibition of surrogacy is enshrined in the Swiss Constitution and is considered a fundamental conviction of the Swiss legal system.
While the non-recognition could lead to the children being left without parents in Switzerland, which could violate the children's fundamental rights, the protection of the child from being degraded to a…