Sir, – International evidence shows that a prohibition of surrogacy would be an exercise in futility at a national level and would further encourage Irish couples to travel abroad for surrogacy.
Although we may feel uncomfortable with this terminology, the reality is that cross-border surrogacy is a booming global business which raises many jurisdictional challenges in relation to legal parentage and conflict of laws between states, to which there is a huge range of responses internationally ranging from prohibitive to regulated, unregulated and liberal.
The Hague Conference on Private International Law reported an increase of 1,162 per cent in international surrogacy cases between 2008 and 2012, and this trend is expected to increase. This gives rise to concerns about child welfare, potential exploitation, health policy, reproductive freedom and regulation of cross-border services.
In my view, these issues would be best dealt with by an international convention on surrogacy if consensus on the subject could be achieved between states.
It is also important to acknowledge in this debate that the vast majority of intended parents undertake surrogacy with the best of intentions after years of struggling to have a family and are strongly committed and loving parents.
Prof Susan Golombok, the world’s leading expert on the psychological outcomes for families created through assisted reproduction and surrogacy, has said that the fears about surrogacy are based on speculation rather than fact. Her research on surrogacy shows positive family relationships and well-adjusted children, and demonstrates that family structure matters less than the quality of its relationships.
Surrogacy is not going to simply go away whether we ban it or not in Ireland. Prohibition will only drive it underground or abroad. If we are really concerned about protecting all women and children, and not just those within our own borders, we need to regulate surrogacy to ensure a careful screening and counselling process for all involved, independent legal advice, oversight of arrangements and payments, and a legal framework that provides a clear basis for the establishment of parentage for children, whether conceived here or abroad. This will best serve the rights and interests of children, women and intended parents. – Yours, etc,
Prof DEIRDRE MADDEN,
School of Law,
University College Cork.