There are many ways couples or single parents can bring a child into their lives. This could be done through traditional conception, IVF (in vitro fertilisation), fostering or adoption. All of these are widely accepted forms of childbearing, yet the process of surrogacy is often not spoken about.
Surrogacy is the process where a surrogate mother agrees to carry a baby for a couple or prospective single parent. After the baby is born, the surrogate mother gives the baby to the couple or parent under the agreement. However, these would be known as commissioning parents, meaning they are the adults who will raise the child, and unfortunately do not have the same rights as other parents such as maternity leave.
Currently, surrogacy in Ireland is not legal. Most parents who want to go down the surrogacy route will have to do so in other countries that allow it. Anyone can seek the surrogacy route, but most of those who do are couples who are infertile but can’t get pregnant or same sex couples.
There is a lot of stigma towards surrogacy around the world. Some countries may look at it as exploitation of disadvantaged women and views childbearing as a means to acquire money. It is still relatively a new fertility solution, with only a few countries around the world allowing it, with Ireland left in a grey area. Should a bill for the legalisation of surrogacy be passed in the Dail?Â
Looking at Australia for example, altruistic surrogacy is legal, meaning the surrogate mother is assisting the couple without looking for compensation as opposed to commercial surrogacy, where the mother would be seeking compensation. Looking at Australia’s success rate for surrogacy, 131 surrogacy births were reported in 2022 that represents 40% of egg transfers which resulted in a birth. However, in between 2021-2022, 213 Australian babies were born via international surrogacy, meaning that Australian parents were seeking surrogate mothers outside of the country.
However, because these babies are born overseas, they are not protected by Australian laws, making these children more likely to be at risk physically and psychologically. This could be the same for Irish parents seeking international surrogacy and is a good reason for it to be legalised within the country.Â
Other issues with international surrogacy could be the traveling between countries to retrieve the baby, when they are not even old enough to travel by plane yet. In Australia, 11% of parents reported their baby had been born prematurely, which is also dangerous to the child’s welfare. If Australia legalised more domestic surrogacy, these complications could be avoided.
Since Australia legalises altruistic surrogacy but bans multiple embryo transfer and the advertising for prospective surrogate parents, it still doesn’t make it easy for the process to go ahead, which is why parents seek out international surrogacy, which comes with its issues. In an Irish context, many parents seeking surrogacy could face these difficulties.
While surrogacy has its cons, it also has its pros. It is the generous act of someone giving another couple or parent the opportunity of raising a child. There are many parents out there who aren’t fortunate to have their own child, and there are many children out there who don’t have a parent to look after them. It is thus unfair to prohibit prospective parents the right to a child and for a child to have a parent..
In general, it could be considered that it doesn’t matter how a child is brought into this world, what matters is that they are placed with someone who loves and will care for them. Legalising domestic surrogacy in Ireland and other countries would be safer for the wellbeing of the surrogate children and regulating international surrogacy where the wellbeing of the child is recognised, would be a goal for Ireland to achieve to give more parents the experience of raising a baby.
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