No more a world of choice
THE wombs-for-rent industry had collapsed across southeast Asia, forcing Australians to hunt for surrogates far afield in countries such as Canada, the US or the Ukraine where they can expect to face six-figure costs and to tread legal minefields.
For Sydney woman Lisa, who prefers to use only her first name, the 2016 birth of her fraternal twin daughters Bronte and McKenzie to a surrogate in Canada came after extensive and expensive consultation with lawyers on both sides of the Pacific to ensure she could bring her babies home without risk of losing them.
At the time, Thailand had banned surrogacy following the Baby Gammy scandal, Cambodia was shutting down and India closed its doors. Laos was the last country in the region to allow commercial sur- rogacy, though experts warned all of southeast Asia was fraught with unpredictable governments and risks of exploitation.
“I wanted somewhere less risky and legal,” Lisa said.
“Baby Gammy was happening and I could see things going wrong.”
Gammy involved an Australian couple – one of them a convicted paedophile – paying a Thai surrogate to deliver a baby in Thailand, which turned out to be twins.
The couple were accused of choosing the healthy baby while abandoning Gammy, who has Down syndrome.
Lisa had tried IVF using a sperm donor without success and miscarried after using an egg donor. “Nothing was working,” she said.
She consulted Brisbanebased surrogacy lawyer Stephen Page, who advised in the absence of finding an altruistic surrogate in Australia – not easy, with only 40 to 60 surrogates making themselves available each year, usually on a friendship basis – she should look to Canada or the US.
In Canada, where altruistic surrogacy is available, her Toronto lawyer put her in touch with a club where willing surrogates post profiles online.
Lisa found a woman. They spoke on the phone. Then things moved fast. Contracts were drawn up. They had a day getting to know each other in late 2015 and did an embryo transfer the following day.
“The legal advice was if you don’t use your own eggs you shouldn’t use the surrogate’s eggs,” she said. “The advice is to get a third-party’s DNA because there could be problems.”
In talking to surrogates, Lisa found a consistent motive.
“One said to me, ‘I’m not giving them away. I’m just helping to carry it’. It’s an incredible gift. You have to be special but Canadians are some of the friendliest people on earth.”
Her own surrogate told her: “I will love them and nurture them but they’re your babies.” She was good to her word.
Lisa was there for the birth in 2016. “I cut the cords and they were given to me,” she said. She stayed on a month, arranging paperwork. Lisa’s name appeared on the birth certificates as the parent, by Canadian court order. She flew with the twins, travelling on Canadian passports, to Sydney.
There, a prearranged immigration agent ensured a seamless transition for the babies’ citizenship.
Lisa had to refinance her mortgage but said it was worth it: “Look at the reward. All I could see in my future was just regret if I didn’t do everything available.”