Adam Frisby and Jamie Corbett’s surrogacy petition to be considered for parliamentary debate
Frisby and his fiancé say the current system is outdated, launching a petition in a bid to ensure “the law properly reflects how families are formed today"
By Aaron Sugg
In The Style founder Adam Frisby and his fiancé Jamie Corbett have gained over 80,000 signatures in under 24 hours after launching a UK parliamentary petition calling for surrogacy law reform.
Welcoming their baby girl Leven via surrogacy back in January, the couple are now facing a lengthy court process to be recognised as their daughter’s legal parents in the UK.
The couple used a woman from the US called Krista as their surrogate via egg donation, giving birth in the States, where the pair are legally recognised as the child’s parents upon birth.
What does the UK law say about surrogate parents?
Under UK surrogacy law, the surrogate and her spouse are recognised as the initial legal parents of the child, meaning it is necessary to obtain a parental order to transfer legal parenthood to, in this case, the two fathers.
Transferring legal parenthood through a parental order usually takes six to 12 months after the child’s birth, meaning that until legal recognition is granted, the surrogate retains legal decision-making power over the baby.
Frisby and his fiancé say the current system is outdated, launching a petition in a bid to ensure “the law properly reflects how families are formed today”.
“Under current law, the surrogate is automatically recognised as the legal mother” – Adam Frisby criticising current UK surrogacy law
In a statement obtained by Attitude, the fashion mogul said: “When our daughter was born through surrogacy, we became dads the moment we held her. But under current law, the surrogate is automatically recognised as the legal mother (and if she is married, her spouse is recorded as the legal father), even with no biological connection or intention to parent the child.”
“Intended parents must then go through a lengthy court process to become their child’s legal parents. In 2026 we believe this is outdated. The law needs to recognise intended parents from birth,” Frisby said.
At the time of writing this, the petition has garnered 94,692 signatures, leaving it only a few thousand away from the 100,000 threshold at which the Government must respond.
The couple appeared on ITV’s This Morning today (28 April) with their four-month-old daughter, making her TV debut.
How to become legal parents through surrogacy under UK law
Criticising the “endless amounts of paperwork” and social worker visits required before going to the High Court to obtain a parental order, they say it is unfair for new parents to go through such a lengthy process.
Before Leven was born, the couple shared their surrogacy journey online, which brought in a wave of homophobic abuse, with users calling them “child abusers and sex traffickers”.
Speaking on the We Need To Talk podcast with Paul C Brunson, Frisby said: “We’ve had horrendous comments under online articles about our baby. There has been over 2,500 calling us child abusers, sex traffickers, saying we’re stealing babies from mums… it was awful to read it. It’s scary.”
“We’re bringing a child into the world that’s going to have so much love” – Frisby addressing homophobic online hate since sharing his surrogacy journey
Despite the abuse, Frisby said he was excited about fatherhood, adding: “We’re bringing a child into the world that’s going to have so much love… my biggest fear in life is not being a good dad. I think I have that fear as I didn’t have that as a child.”
Regardless of the “intrusive” complexities of becoming Leven’s legal parents in the UK, Corbett said they would go through the process “100 times over”.
To support Frisby and Corbett’s parliamentary petition, visit the official “Change surrogacy law to recognise intended parents from birth” webpage.