Israel’s unity government to help gay couples become parents
Into the outline of the new government, Knesset member Itzik Shmuli has succeeded in introducing a clause by which the state will financially assist same-sex couples undertake surrogacy procedures abroad.
Designated Welfare and Social Services Minister Itzik Shmuli (Labor party) is one of five openly homosexual lawmakers currently serving in the Israeli Knesset. The most senior among them is Justice Minister Amir Ohana.
In March 2019, 40-year-old Shmuli announced on social media that he had become a father together with his partner, following a lengthy, frustrating and costly surrogacy process carried out in Rhode Island.
Like all same-sex couples in Israel, Shmuli and his partner were ineligible for government support or recognition of the process they had undergone because the law discriminates between them and single women and straight couples. Protracted public campaigns to amend the law have been met with vehement opposition by the ultra-Orthodox parties, forcing male same-sex couples to travel abroad, generally to the United States, to realize their dreams of parenthood. Only those with considerable means can afford to do so.
Now, Shmuli is about to realize another dream and lead a revolution on this explosive social and political issue. Under an April agreement between the Blue and White and Labor parties, reached ahead of the planned establishment of a unity government with the Likud, the state will provide financial support for male same-sex couples who enter into a surrogacy agreement abroad.
