02.14.10
Surrogacy is now lawful in Queensland.
Queensland’s controversial surrogacy bill was passed on12th February 2010 by 45 votes to 36. Two Labor MPs crossed the floor to vote against the Bligh Government. Until this time, a contract for surrogacy had been unlawful in this state.
Surrogacy means substitute, and in this context the term is used for a substitute birth mother. Surrogacy is when a woman agrees to become pregnant and carry to term and deliver a baby for another party or parties. (known as gestational carrying)There are a range of ways this can occur including intercourse, artifical insemination or implanting an embryo. This may be done for altruistic reasons or for a sum of money (commercial surrogacy) which may be done through an agency. Given that altruistic surrogacy is now lawful in Queensland there will typically be a surrogacy contract drawn up. Surrogacy is an option when there are medical or other reasons for why a person cannot have a child in the natural way, for example, infertility, a medical condition that makes pregnancy risky for a woman, a desire to have a child but not go through a pregnancy, same sex couples and single people.
Debating this issue has been legally and morally difficult for many members of our Parliament .
Legally the presumption has been that a woman who gives birth to a child is the baby’s mother. In surrogacy, the mother is not the one who gives birth but the person who has acquired legal rights to the baby once born. So the law in Queensland will be changed so that the person or persons who contacted the surrogate birth are the baby’s legal parents.
Morally there are difficulties too. Some members of the Queensland Parliament believe that ideally children need parents of both sex and were morally concerned with babies being available through surrogacy to same-sex couples or to single men or women. Others felt it was discriminatory to exclude anyone from being a parent – essentially all people have a right to have a child to raise as their own and that Medicare payment should be equally available.
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