How would you feel about the ethics of paid surrogacy in Australia?

[moongazer]

Mamallama - what NSW model are you referring to??? i thought surrogacy was illegal in Australia???

[Looshkin]

This is not selling babies. It is paying to rent a uterus and birth canal.

IVF is not free, fertility treatment is not free, lot's of things are not free. Why should surrogacy be any different?

Thats a good point. IVF isn't free.
Essentially they are making money from the same outcome.
You pay a Dr for the end result of the baby in a similar way to paying the surrogate.. (donor egg + sperm etc) but it's only the fertility doctors and clinics making money off it.

[canberramomma]

But just because others are making money off people who can't have their own babies naturally and the medical/pharma factories are making money of less fortunate people, does that mean we can allow exploitation all through our society?

Or perhaps we should be campaigning for a better and less expensive standard of sexual/reproductive treatment for everyone.

Not sure if I explained that properly.

[Baldie's Mum]

personally i think until you have walked a day in the life of both the surro and the woman who needed to borrow the womb, its a really hard call.

Personally, we were asking these questions not so long ago. Not knowing whether i was able to carry a baby was very real. Imagine asking someone to borrow their uterus for a little while, to go through IVF.....What would you say?? For me, the selflessness of my bestie who offered her uterus was so much for me to handle the only way i knew how to pay her back was through finacial help. She knows i love her, but i know how sick she gets through pregnancy, so i would hire her a nanny, i would also treat her to the day spa, so although i would not be giving her actual cash, she would have recieved alot of extra benifits through other ways. Its just looking after her, considering she was going to be looking after me.

I hope i havent confused anyone..........

so in short, i do support paid surrogacy (very regulated of course), cause it may make the couple feel a little less hopeless.

[sooz77]

Another potential difficulty is the birth choices.

For example, if the child is breech, then the medical practicioners will reccommend a c/s. However, a breech vaginal birth is considered a viable and safe option by many. In the circumstances of a surrogacy situation, it is important that everyone knows who gets to decides, and have guidelines properly spelled out beforehand.

For example, I myself, if I were to be a surrogate, would ensure the recipients were aware that I strongly favour natural birth methods, and would only resort to intervention in the most extreme cases of obvious risk. However a parent who was looking for a surrogate to carry their last embryo (from before they had cancer treatment for example) would likely rather a surrogate that would choose to accept whatever medical intervention was recommended by practicioners.

Those are things that a strict screening and matching program as well as psychological evaluations would uncover and thus prevent you from being a surrogate for people who didn't feel the same. That is the benefit of legalising something, you can legislate for it and stop people going overseas where legislation is not as strict or is not enforced.

Any issues to do with the surrogate possibly holding the parents to ransom for more money would be dealt with through legal contracts, particularly if it was not her egg that was used.

[sooz77]

But just because others are making money off people who can't have their own babies naturally and the medical/pharma factories are making money of less fortunate people, does that mean we can allow exploitation all through our society?

Or perhaps we should be campaigning for a better and less expensive standard of sexual/reproductive treatment for everyone.

Not sure if I explained that properly.

Who exactly is being exploited if all parties agree to it and are happy with the terms of the agreement?

[MamaLlama]

Mamallama - what NSW model are you referring to??? i thought surrogacy was illegal in Australia???

http://www.sydneyivf.com/Assistedcon...2/Default.aspx

Sydney IVF and another service in Canberra are the only ones that go by this I believe, but yes it is legal and I think the sensible approach.

[MamaLlama]

personally i think until you have walked a day in the life of both the surro and the woman who needed to borrow the womb, its a really hard call.

I think the question is not the question "is it exploitation in this or every case" but "is it allowing exploitation in some cases". Unless the answer is no, I think its inappropriate. You don't make any kind of laws for the exception. Some people actually want to be beaten, but by law you cannot legally consent to grevious bodily harm (or murder). And rightly so. Because if you could who is to say how many cases of fabricated consent you'd see?

[Mrs Mermaid]

There are 2 types of surrogacy
- traditional surrogacy where the woman uses her own egg, either donated or the Fathers sperm and carries the baby

- gestational surrogacy, where the surrogate mothers eggs are not used. Either the Intended Parents own embryo is used, or a donated egg/sperm/embryo.

And this statement 'most surrogates use there own egg and donated sperm' is actually not quite the case - in actual fact, gestational surrogacy is the most common form of surrogacy.

In my own case, I have eggs, DH has sperm .... I just cannot carry a baby. We have considered surrogacy (briefly) but in the end decided it was not for us. If we were to ever go down that road, I would be much happier if it were legal for me to pay a surrogate more than just the medical expenses or out of pocket expenses. I would want to give that person something to make a meaningful difference in their life, as they would be making in mine. I could never ask someone to do such a HUGE thing, and not do something incredibly special for them to show just HOW much I appreciate their gift and their effort in giving.

A lovely post we share the same thoughts on this.

[Lilahh]

I'll seriously consider surrogacy for the right person when I'm finished completing my family. I'll do it "altrusitically" in that I wouldn't want a cash payment, but I would want my salary compensated for if I needed time off work for pregnancy complications or anything like that... basically I wouldn't want to be out of pocket at all, especially because I have kids of my own to care for. I know I wouldn't be doing it "just for cash" anyway, because I would only do it for the right person, someone I felt connected with. I wouldn't just do it for anyone. Im against the idea of women farming out their own uterus for cash to any random who will take it.. I think it should be far more personal then that.

Also, I'd only ever do gestational surrogacy. I don't think there should be a difference in terms of "costs" for either type of surrogacy.