A COUPLE’S twin girls born to a ­surrogate mum in the US will not be
officially recognised as their children, France’s top appeal court has
ruled.

The decision also means Sylvie and Dominique ­Mennenson’s children
cannot be given French nationality or birth ­certificates and will be
“foreigners” in France.

They used a Californian surrogate mother in 2000, who was implanted with eggs fertilised with the father’s sperm.

Under California law, the twins were registered as the Mennenson’s
children but as surrogacy is banned in France, the court has ruled
otherwise after an 11-year legal battle.

Mrs Mennenson said she felt “crushed”, adding: “We were never trying
to have the use of surrogacy legalised in France, but simply to have
France recognise the status of children living here who were born
elsewhere.”