Argument to support local surrogacy ... even promote local surrogacy

When the ABC fact check team place a photograph of baby Gammy as the opening picture on their fact file, it makes a case for a local altruistic surrogacy process.

Fact file: How easy is it to bring overseas-born surrogate babies back to Australia and what are their parents' rights?
21 August 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-19/rights-of-surrogate-children-born-overseas/5654602

(Note: The fact sheet has many useful and factually correct statements)

I know for a lot of people think that surrogacy is a step too far. I think i might have been exactly the same until that was the best possible (and most likely to succeed) option for  my partner and I to create a family.

As someone that is "required" to go through a surrogacy arrangement it seems that a local option would be best.

The thing is a local surrogacy process is very difficult.

If there are hundreds of Australians risking international surrogacy to have a family, is it not more advantageous for the local option to be promoted? By promoting, I do not mean with flashing lights and cheap commercial providers.

In Western Australia, it is illegal for anyone to assist intending parents with their surrogacy journey for money, outside of the strictly regulated medical interventions.

So at the very start of a journey couples are usually confused, scared and have no where to go for help.

I think that this high "entry barrier" to surrogacy is a reason many intending parents quickly look to an international solution.

Perhaps there are some small interventions that might support a local surrogacy process.

Standardisation of laws across Australia would mean people in different states could support each other. In WA, we are many years behind the eastern states (our legislation was only enacted in 2009). There are far more people in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales involved in the surrogacy process that could come together in a useful and supportive way.

A simple thing, for every bad news story about surrogacy we should encourage news organisations to publish a factual positive story. The most regularly asked question of me is "is surrogacy legal?". The poor reporting or terribly researched news stories that focus on sensationalism is the only way our community gets to learn about surrogacy. How can we expect our community to know the facts about surrogacy?

From my experience, intending parents tend to be made up of loving couples where the female has some health problem that prevents her from carrying a child herself.

The majority (I cannot say all because I have not met all) of people accessing surrogacy are not doing so for frivolous reasons. They are not thoughtless hollow humans readying to exploit another human, they are themselves desperate. Perhaps with small changes to the law and processes around surrogacy, more Australian's would choose to look for a local option.