The translator as mediator between opposing realities: judgments on the matter of surrogacy

Abstract

Surrogacy has become a phenomenon that many people who want to start a family but, for various reasons, cannot or do not wish to do so naturally or through adoption, are turning to today. Surrogacy is a practice that is formalized through a contract, with or without payment, in which the surrogate, after giving birth, waives her maternal rights to the future child in favor of the intended parents. As this practice is illegal in Spain, many people travel to countries where surrogacy is permitted, particularly the United States and, more recently, Ukraine, to become parents through surrogacy. Subsequently, upon returning to Spain, in order to register the child in the Civil Registry, the commissioning parents must provide a judgment issued by the courts of the country where the baby was born and translated into Spanish by a certified translator. This is therefore a complex situation, also from the point of view of the sworn translator, who must mediate between two different, even opposing, legal frameworks, as well as work with terminology that is, to say the least, unfamiliar or confusing. This study aims to describe this problem and analyze some of the translation difficulties presented by this type of assignment.