Image: Internet.

By Roberto Morejón

The new Family Code, on which Cubans will pronounce themselves in a referendum on September 25, leaves behind concepts and ideas that are apparently deeply rooted, hence a certain surprise in some, although the explanations of experts help to evacuate doubts.

This is the case of the term solidarity gestation, not contemplated in the present Family Code, and which in the opinion of Leonardo Perez, president of the Cuban Society of Civil and Family Law, is an alternative that respects the right of all persons to form the basic nucleus of society. 

The procedure is of interest to benefit those who wish to assume maternity and paternity and are unable to do so for medical reasons.

The new Family Code, scheduled for referendum in the largest Antillean Island, stipulates that gestational solidarity will only be authorized in Cuba once assisted reproduction techniques have been exhausted.

Experts reminded that it will only be carried out in people with guaranteed socio-affective ties and with the voluntariness of the parties involved.  

If the new Family Code is ratified in the Caribbean nation, it will be feasible to resort to gestational solidarity, always under precise and inviolable rules and provisions.

All this in order to prevent risks to the health of the pregnant woman and the child, as well as to avoid the commercialization of the woman's body.

Cuba takes steps to ensure that gestation in solidarity goes through three decisive controls: legal, sanitary and judicial supervision.

Of course, the procedure depends on the majority acceptance of the new Family Code, a regulation judiciously praised by many Cubans for thinking of all the links of society, that is, for its inclusive profile.

The perception that in case of compliance with the new Code, Cuba would be one of the few countries to legalize gestation in solidarity, should not discourage voters from approving this proposal and the others contained in the document.

We are talking about a general precept that does not deprive anyone of rights and increases the rights of people who until now have been deprived of them, in addition to promoting and forging affection as well as protecting, among others, children and the elderly.

The humanistic and supportive nature of the Code's articles makes it advisable to support it.