JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli government committee approved an amendment which would allow same-sex couples and singles to have babies using a surrogate in Israel.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved the amendment to the existing surrogacy law on Sunday by a vote of 7 to 5. Under the current law, only heterosexual couples can arrange to have a surrogate mother in Israel.

Other couples and singles go abroad to have children through surrogacy, many to India and Thailand.

The amendment must pass three Knesset votes, and is expected to be opposed by many sides for moral, religious and legal reasons.

Israel currently has a shortage of women willing to be surrogate mothers.

The bill places limits on surrogate mothers, including allowing no more than three surrogate pregnancies per woman and raising the maximum age for a surrogate mother to 38 years old. The prospective parents must be 54 years old or younger.

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