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The Regulation of Commercial Surrogacy in Australia

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The Regulation of Commercial Surrogacy in Australia ǣ ǡ FACULTY OF LAW QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY 2020 KEYWORDS Altruistic Surrogacy Assisted reproductive technology (ART) Commercial Surrogacy Gestational Surrogacy Harm Principle In vitro fertilisation (IVF) Joel Feinberg John Stuart Mill On Liberty Surrogacy Surrogacy Regulation Traditional Surrogacy i ABSTRACT Surrogacy is the name given to the practice where one woman conceives and carries a child for another, relinquishing the resulting child after birth to the individual or couple who intend to raise that child. The practice of surrogacy raises concerns of harm occurring to the surrogate, the resulting child, the intending parents and society at large. The regulation of surrogacy in Australia has developed slowly over the past few decades but is now generally accepting of altruistic (unpaid) surrogacy. Commercial (paid) surrogacy, however, remains a forbidden practice. This thesis identifies the harms purported to be caused by surrogacy. As part of this discussion a comparison of altruistic and commercial surrogacy is undertaken and it is revealed that in many instances, the harms associated with surrogacy apply in both the altruistic and commercial contexts. The only distinction that can be made between altruistic and commercial surrogacy is the payment that a commercial surrogate receives in addition to reimbursement of her expenses. Therefore, the only harm that is specifically applicable to commercial surrogacy is commodification. John Stuart Mill’s Harm Principle is adopted in conjunction with Feinberg’s interpretation of harm to create a harm threshold. The current Australian regulatory response to commercial surrogacy is then critiqued against that harm threshold to determine whether the current prohibition of commercial surrogacy is justified or if the regulatory response to commercial surrogacy goes beyond what is necessary to minimise the risk of harm occurring. It is ultimately concluded that the current regulatory framework goes beyond what is necessary to protect against the risk of commodification of children born through commercial surrogacy and the legislation can be amended to appropriately respond to this risk of harm and legalise commercial surrogacy in Australia. The legislative material referred to in this thesis reflects the law in force in Australia at the date of submission of this thesis for examination (2020). ii TABLE OF CONTENTS KEYWORDS ................................................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................ viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................ x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND OUTLINE OF THESIS .............................................................. 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 From Abraham to Alice: Surrogacy through the Ages ................................................................ 8 Surrogacy was the Way: Successful Surrogacy Agreements ..................................................... 11 A Kim Cotton ............................................................................................................................. 11 B The Kirkman Sisters ............................................................................................................... 12 C Alisa Latto .............................................................................................................................. 13 D Former Senator Stephen Conroy ........................................................................................... 14 Winners and Losers: When Surrogacy Goes Wrong ................................................................. 14 A Lori Jean Jasso ....................................................................................................................... 15 B Baby M ................................................................................................................................... 16 C Johnson v Calvert ................................................................................................................... 17 D Re Evelyn ............................................................................................................................... 19 E Baby Gammy.......................................................................................................................... 20 F Alexa ...................................................................................................................................... 21 Public Perception, Regulation and Religion .............................................................................. 22 A Media Attention .................................................................................................................... 26 B Protecting Against Harm Through Regulation ....................................................................... 27 C Religion and Regulation ......................................................................................................... 29 Assessing Harm in the Commercial Surrogacy Context ............................................................ 30 A The Harm Principle ................................................................................................................ 31 Scope of Thesis .......................................................................................................................... 35 Objective of Thesis, Program of Research and Chapter Outline............................................... 37 A Research Objective 1: To Describe Altruistic and Commercial Surrogacy and How They Are Regulated in Australia............................................................................................................ 38 B Research Objective 2: To Establish a Normative Framework That Supports a Critique of the Regulatory Response to the Harms Associated with Commercial Surrogacy ....................... 39 C Research Objective 3: To Identify and Compare the Potential Harms That Result from Altruistic and Commercial Surrogacy and to Identify any Harms Unique to Commercial Surrogacy ............................................................................................................................... 40 D Research Objective 4: To Analyse the Potential for Harm and to Critique the Regulatory Response to Commercial Surrogacy in Australia ................................................................... 41 Original and Significant Contributions to Knowledge ............................................................... 41 CHAPTER TWO: POLICY, GUIDELINES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUSTRALIA’S SURROGACY LEGISLATION .............................................................................................................................. 44 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 44 Reproductive Regulatory Policy In Australia ............................................................................. 46 A Tension between the Welfare and Harm Principles .............................................................. 46 B Australia’s Conservative Approach to Regulating Surrogacy ................................................ 48 C A Failure to Properly Consider Harm in the Commercial Surrogacy Context ........................ 50 1 Queensland ....................................................................................................................... 50 2 New South Wales .............................................................................................................. 51 iii 3 Australian Capital Territory ............................................................................................... 52 4 Victoria .............................................................................................................................. 53 5 South Australia .................................................................................................................. 54 6 Tasmania ........................................................................................................................... 56 7 Western Australia ............................................................................................................. 56 8 Northern Territory ............................................................................................................ 57 9 Commonwealth ................................................................................................................. 57 10 Other Bodies ..................................................................................................................... 58 D Policy Observations ............................................................................................................... 59 ART Guidelines and Codes of Practice .....................................................................................
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