The Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (NSW) welcomes the NSW Government’s response to the inquiry into altruistic surrogacy which supports the recommendations made in the NSW Standing Committee on Law and Justice Report on legislation on altruistic surrogacy in NSW.

“Surrogacy is an issue which affects a broad range of families, and introducing a way of legally recognising surrogate parents would provide for the security of children born through assisted reproductive technology (ART)”, said Benjamin Keats, GLRL Co-Convenor.  The NSW Government supports the introduction of a transfer of parentage scheme for surrogate parents. The Government has stated that any transfer of parentage mechanism will require the birth mother’s consent, preserve the current parentage presumption in favour of the birth mother and surrogacy agreements will remain unenforceable. Kellie McDonald, GLRL Co-Convenor, states, “A scheme to transfer parental status in surrogacy arrangements empowers couples who have children through ART with all the rights and responsibilities of a parent. This ensures the parent-child relationship is recognised in other areas of federal and state law.”

The GLRL also notes the current ban on commercial surrogacy in NSW and believes that any proposed legislation should specify the kinds of ‘reasonable expenses’ that can be reimbursed to a birth mother.  Mr Keats states, “A clear list of what can and cannot be remunerated is necessary to protect individuals or couples from entering into what could be deemed a commercial arrangement, which is a criminal offence”. 

The GLRL believes that reproductive choices are private decisions, and supports a minimalist approach to any regulation. However, the GLRL urges the Government to also recognise children conceived via overseas surrogacy arrangements in any new legislation.