Surrogacy in Queensland

Essay by kate123High School, 12th gradeA, August 2008

download word file, 6 pages 4.3

Queensland’s Surrogacy Parenthood Act 1988 does not reflect the reality of what science can offer infertile couples and addresses the viable issue of surrogacy in today’s society.

Surrogacy is not a new procedure; there are ancient stories in the bible such as Genesis relating Sarah’s servant Hagar bearing a child for her and Abraham to raise. However with 10-15% of Australian couples infertile, it is becoming a more popular and viable method of creating a child for infertile couples, single women and same sex couples. Today we will be investigating the issue that Queensland’s Surrogacy Parenthood Act 1988 does not reflect the reality of what science can offer infertile couples and addresses the viable issue of surrogacy in today’s society.

There are two main forms of surrogacy. Traditional surrogacy occurs when the surrogate mother becomes pregnant with her own biological child fertilized by either the commissioning (intended) father’s sperm or a sperm donor.

Gestational surrogacy is a recent development where the embryo that the surrogate mother carries to maturity is not genetically linked to her, and is of the commissioning couple or a sperm/egg donor combination. These can be further broken down into altruistic surrogacy where the surrogate receives no financial reward for her pregnancy and commercial surrogacy, where the gestational carrier is paid to carry the child.

Although Commonwealth Law and National Ethical Guidelines prohibit commercial surrogacy, the legislation around Australia relating to altruistic surrogacy varies tremendously.

•Last year Western Australia passed the Western Australia Surrogacy Bill 2007. However the Human Reproductive Technology Act 1991 only allows married, de facto and single women to access this treatment.

•The Reproductive Technology Act 1988 and South Australian Family Relationships Act 1988 both govern surrogacy in South Australia. It is only available to couples who are medically infertile with a genetic disease,