“Labour of Love”; “Magic Happens”; “The Greatest Gift”. These are just some recent Australian news headlines promising good news stories about surrogacy and happy families.

But nowhere in the stories are there discussions of the ethical and moral issues surrounding altruistic and commercial surrogacy. These stories lead us to believe that surrogacy is something in which we should all rejoice and agree.

This is also the impression I was left after reading the  Australian Law Reform Commission’s review of surrogacy laws issues paper. Judging from the review’s remit and June  issues paper, it appears the review was set up to examine easing and unifying surrogacy rules in Australia.

In particular, the ALRC will consider how to reduce barriers to altruistic surrogacy, including remuneration costs for the birth mother.

A final report will go to the attorney-general by July next year. Submissions are currently open.

I have ethical and moral concerns about surrogacy. These relate to the dignity and exploitation of surrogates and babies. Before I outline these, I need to write the following to avoid readers saying, “She doesn’t know what it’s like not to be able to have children. She shouldn’t write about this”. Firstly, I wanted children but was unable to; and secondly, people can still offer their hopefully informed views on ethical and moral questions without direct experience.

But what are  the surrogacy rules in Australia?

Australia allows altruistic surrogacy, and the birth mother’s costs are reimbursed by the commissioning parents. They also pay for fertility clinics to transfer embryos to the surrogate, although the  clinics only deal with gestational surrogacy: sperm and egg from the intended parents or from donors. In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate uses her egg.

Commercial surrogacy is banned because of concerns about the exploitation of surrogates. But in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, people are allowed to commission overseas surrogates, which wildly contradicts Australia’s stance on domestic commercial surrogacy. This is much more common than altruistic surrogacy that often takes place between sisters and best friends. Each year in Australia there are about 100 altruistic surrogacies and over 200 using overseas surrogates.

There are a host of rules related to domestic Australian surrogacy such as the surrogate must have already given birth to a live baby. Then, there are complex legal issues relating to all parties involved in the........

© Pearls and Irritations