The Supreme Court of Israel ruled Sunday that current legal restrictions on same-sex couples that prevent them from becoming parents were unlawful. The court said that the restrictions must be lifted within six months.

Surrogacy in Israel is currently open only to heterosexual couples and single women with a genetic connection to the baby. However, Israel’s High Court of Justice unanimously ruled in February 2020 that the law preventing single men and same-sex couples from using a surrogate was unlawful. The court gave the Knesset, Israel’s unicameral legislature, a year to pass a new law. The deadline was March 1, 2021, but the legislature was unable to pass a new law within that time frame.

On Sunday, the court said that the current law excludes single men and same-sex couples, disproportionately violating their rights to parenthood and equality. Because the restrictions are unlawful, the court proposed that the legislature delete the definitions for “intended parents,” “intended parents who are spouses,” and “single intended mother ” from the surrogacy law. 

The court said that the surrogacy restrictions will be lifted within six months, giving the government time to make the change.