Surrogates’, intended parents’, and professionals’ perspectives on ways to improve access to surrogacy in Australia

Abstract

While altruistic surrogacy arrangements are permitted in Australia, commercial ones are not. Regardless of this, most intended parents undertake commercial arrangements by bypassing domestic laws and engaging with foreign surrogates. Considering the welfare risks and ethical concerns associated with international surrogacy, developing a more accessible model of surrogacy in Australia has been proposed as a harm minimization approach. This study aims to describe how Australians who have navigated or facilitated surrogacy believe access to arrangements could be improved. Australian surrogates, intended parents, parents through surrogacy, and surrogacy professionals were interviewed, and interview transcripts were analysed thematically. The themes identified were ‘improve public awareness’, ‘develop policies to guide healthcare practitioners’, ‘establish agencies’, and ‘reform the law’. ‘Reform the law’ had four sub-themes: ‘harmonise laws across the states and territories’; ‘grant intended parents legal parenthood at birth’; ‘legalise commercial surrogacy and gamete donation’; and ‘fair surrogate compensation’. Findings indicate that improving access to surrogacy in Australia will require an overhaul of the legislative environment relating to surrogacy and gamete donation, policies to guide healthcare practitioners, and public awareness campaigns.