Comments on: Surrogacy debate in Legislative Assembly

By: Mark W

Mark W — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 01:52:05 +0000

There is a GetUp! campaign to remove this ban on commercial surrogacy overseas. http://suggest.getup.org.au/forums/60819-campaign-ideas/suggestions/1219791-commercial-surrogacy-overseas

By: Vikram

Vikram — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 12:51:37 +0000

Ms. Sainsbury, are you not an employee of an Indian ART clinic? Your comments might best be understood if viewed in that context. What concern do you have about the surrogates or the children born who are separated from their biological mother?

By: Ruby

Ruby — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 03:39:59 +0000

This politicians should really re-focus their priorities if this is about protecting the rights of children. Why don’t they do something to stop ferals and drug addicts from breeding, or change the adoption laws to make it easier for good people to adopt unwanted children (instead of the current 10 year wait that it takes), or change the child safety laws so that abused children are not put back into abusive situations (the RSPCA has more rights for animals than child safety do to stop child abuse). Really, I know I am a mental health professional who works with this everyday. My only option is surrogacy due to a medical condition which means that I can’t carry my own child – I have been in a loving marriage for 12 years and I know a lot of other people in the same situation – we would make wonderful parents and because of the living hell that we have had to go through to even get to the point of considering using a surrogate, the child would be so loved and cared for. Where is there any scientifically proven evidence that a child is harmed through surrogacy – most of the time it is a win/win situation – the surrogate mother is treated like a queen and well cared for and the child is wanted and loved. I work bloody hard to pay huge taxes to the Australian and State Government to pay for the baby bonus for all the ferals out there who then don’t even spend it on their child but now the politicians want to take away from me the one thing that would make my life complete – the opportunity to be a mother with my loving husband. Wake up to yourself pollies and go and fight for a better cause such as looking after abused children properly or youth homelessness – they are the real ones at risk because al ot of them came from unfit parents who could have them freely and didn’t have to fight tooth and nail to get them. Go and do some real studies into this before making laws about things you properly don’t even really know much about.

By: Paul Mitchell

Paul Mitchell — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 14:53:44 +0000

Chris Hartcher should be ashamed of himself as he is very hypercritical on this particular issue (as is many other MPs who opposed this bill)!!!!!

By: Micky D

Micky D — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 03:46:22 +0000

Why is it so unusual that Hodgkinson was not lobbied. She never listens to constituents so why bother giving her an opinion

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 02:42:45 +0000

Not strictly so Megan. Under operation of the Family Law Act, in the eyes of Australian law the surrogate mother and her married or de facto partner are deemed the parents of the child, even though the intending parents may be named on the birth certificate. The transfer of parentage mechanism proposed by state law only applies to local altruistic arrangements and does not apply to overseas commercial arrangements. In these overseas commercial cases the intending parents would need to apply to the Family Court for an order conferring parental responsibility upon them, which is not the transfer of parentage mechanism proposed under state law. Anecdotally, I understand that those intending parents whose names both wind up on the foreign issued birth certificate often don’t bother with any subsequent legal mechanism because the birth certificate does not say this is a surrogacy arrangement, and no-one would know any better. My view: making entering into an overseas commercial arrangement an offence is a ridiculous law as it does nothing to benefit the child, how is it going to be policed, and regardless of personal views about ethics/morality, people deperate to start a family do not care. Another example of the law being way behind the reality of what is going on in society.

By: Megan sainsbury

Megan sainsbury — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:00:55 +0000

This is so ridiculous. How little these people know about surrogacy in Australia, much less commercial surrogacy abroad. The fact is, a baby born through commercial surrogacy in any country outside of Australia gets Australian citizenship and an Australian passport in the country in which they are born, provided a DNA test proves a genetic link. It is called Citizenship by descent and the process has been allowed forever.

So if you go OS for commercial surrogacy, you have your name on the baby’s birth certificate, your baby has Australian citizenship and you already have parental rights under Australian law. You don’t NEED parental rights conferred by any state in Australia, you already have them!!!!

This applies if you are single, gay, het whatever, provided you have one genetic parent, baby will be Australian. I would encourage anyone wishing to be a parent to travel abroad for surrogacy. Every single state in Australia is enacting new laws which address altruistic/non-commercial surrogacy – when for the majority of us, we can’t find a woman to carry babies for us, regardless of our gender or marital status. Yet a bunch of these clowns voted in as our voices in parliament can’t even agree to confer parentage to children already born through surrogacy.

Australia – you are SO behind the times. Wake up!