Lisbon, Nov 27 (IANS): Portuguese parliament has approved the law authorising surrogacy, which is the commercial contract that allows the hiring of a woman to be pregnant and give birth to a child who will be delivered to other people.

The new law received positive opinions from the National Council for Medically Assisted Procreation and the Portuguese Society for Reproductive Medicine, which added an article limiting this right to natural citizens or permanent residents of Portugal.

According to the law approved on Friday, the pregnant woman for hire must have already been the mother of her own child, Xinhua news agency reported.

It is also decided that the contract should receive prior authorisation from the National Council for Medically Assisted Procreation, which is the Portuguese entity that oversees the entire process.

The law provides that the pregnant woman hired to carry the child can give up and keep the baby until the time of registration of the child, which must take place up to 20 days after birth.

This condition is in response to a request from the Portuguese Constitutional Court, which rejected a previous proposal that limited the right to withdraw only at the beginning of the process.