Foreigners therefore need to show a commitment to living here if they want to use South Africans to help them make a family.
In last month's ruling, involving a Dutch and Danish couple, the applicants won permission to use a surrogate. The Pretoria court laid out guidelines that will now direct how future cases will be resolved. For foreigners, the ruling essentially means that they must intend to stay in South Africa long-term. The couple involved in the case intends to settle here permanently, the court ruling said.
South African law specifically prohibits commercial surrogacy. India, for example, has an "assisted reproductive" industry that in 2008 was valued at $450m (R3.5bn) a year. This resulted in families from wealthier countries hiring Indian surrogates for far less than the process would cost in their home nations - something South Africa is keen to avoid. The court warned that "particularly in countries such as ours with deep socio-economic disparities and prevalence of poverty, that the possibility of abuse of underprivileged women is a real and ever-present danger".
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