AU Seminars November 2018
Surrogacy What You Should Know
Sam EveringhamDirector
Families Through Surrogacy
AU Seminars November 2018
Overview
• Key Factors for Getting Started
• Options available
• Costs
• Timelines
• Typical Problems
• Legal & Parentage Issues (OS Surrogacy)
• Customised Support
AU Seminars November 2018
Factors Needed
• Goodwill
• Professional expertise
• Support
• Experienced provider
• Good planning
• Luck
AU Seminars November 2018
Key Decisions for Getting Started
Timing – when do you want to be a parent?
What size family do you want?
Who will be a genetic parent?
What relationship do you want with your surrogate?
What is your budget?
AU Seminars November 2018
Which Countries Allow
USA, Canada,
Ukraine, Greece,
Georgia, Russia,
Brazil
Australia, Israel, South
Africa, New Zealand,
Netherlands, India,
Thailand, UK, Czech
Republic
For citizens For citizens + foreigners
(legal)
Kenya, Mexico,
Albania, Laos
For foreigners (no laws)
AU Seminars November 2018
Legal Status & Who is Eligible
Country General Eligibility
USA Some states allow gay couples, singles, and heterosexuals of
any age
Low regulation
Ukraine Heterosexual married couples who meet specific medical
criteria
High regulation
Canada allow gay couples, singles, and heterosexuals
combined age of intended parents must be <110
Russia Heterosexual couples and singles
AU Seminars November 2018
Other Countries
Georgia Heterosexual couples who meet general medical criteria
Greece Heterosexual couples and single females
AU Seminars November 2018
$24,500$16,000 $11,000 $15,000
$48,740
$20,000$20,000
$20,000
$12,500
$10,000
$12,000$12,000
$15,000 $2,600
$46,750
$15,000
$18,000
$5,600
$7,000
$20,000
$13,000
$8,300
$4,000
$2,000
$8,000$350
$4,000
$5,500
$5,500$10,000 $5,500
$4,600
$3,000
$13,000
$12,000$17,000
$3,300$8,600
$0
$20,000
$40,000
$60,000
$80,000
$100,000
$120,000
$140,000
$160,000
$180,000
USA Russia Canada Australia Ukraine
Au
st D
olla
rs
Country Engaged In
Agency fee
IVF costs
Legal costs
Surrogatecompensation
Surro expenses
Screening/Counselling
Hospital & post-birthcosts
Surrogate & newborninsurance
Egg Donor costs
Minimum Costs By Country
AU Seminars November 2018
Cost Containment
• Costs can typically increase 50% over ‘baseline’ costs
• failed transfers
• Early miscarriages
• Switching from own to donor eggs
• Pregnancy complications
• Surrogate needing additional time off work
Higher Cost ‘Guarantee’ programs provide peace-of-mind & more
popular
AU Seminars November 2018
Minimum Timelines - US
Waiting for a Surrogate Pregnancy, Parental Rights LegalSurrogate Match,
Legal, Medical
About 18 Months
6 months 9 months3 months
Surr
oga
teD
on
or
Selecting a Donor, Creating Embryos
AU Seminars November 2018
Minimum Timelines – Ukraine/Russia
Wait for Surrogate
Pregnancy Legal, Medical
15+ Months
1 mth 9 months2 months
Surr
oga
teD
on
or
Selecting a Donor, Creating Embryos
1.5 months
Country exit
1 mth
Paper
work
AU Seminars November 2018
Minimum Timelines - Canada
Surrogate queque Pregnancy, Parental Rights LegalSurrogate medicals, transfers and new
attempts
19 - 27 Months
4 months 9 months2 - 8 months
Find Donor, Creae Embryos
IVF Physician, Surrogacy Agency
Surrogate’s OB/GYN
4-6 months
Donor Agency, IVF Physician
Surrogacy Agency
AU Seminars November 2018
PROBLEMS
AU Seminars November 2018
Less Options
• Higher demand for surrogates in fewer countries
• Greater pressure on US, Canada & Ukraine surrogacy
• Increasing wait times
• Poorer surrogate screening -> higher drop out, lower success
AU Seminars November 2018
Australian Surrogates Not Supported
• Poorly screened
• No effective matching
• Poor emotional support
• Inadequate support during pregnancy attempts and pregnancy
Surrogacy Australia Support Service to address this
AU Seminars November 2018
Poorer Success with Altruistic
• Parents using altruistic often report
• Longer wait times to match with a surrogate (12- 18 mths)
• Surrogates dropping out
• Unsuccessful transfers / poor success rates
• spiralling timelines, costs & stress as surrogates and donors are changed
after repeated failure
AU Seminars November 2018
Twin Pregnancies A High Risk Scenario
• Increasingly surrogates will not accept double embryo transfer, as
its harder on their bodies
• Twin pregnancies come with far higher medical risks
• US & Canada don’t provide neonate insurance for twins
AU Seminars November 2018
LEGAL & PARENTAGE ISSUES
FOR OS SURROGACY
AU Seminars November 2018
Legal Issues
• International surrogacy banned under NSW Law but not Commonwealth
law
• Despite this many engage OS, given
• Poor access to Australian surrogacy
• citizenship & passports administered at a Commonwealth level
• All the normal rights (Medicare, Centrelink payments, schooling)
remain available regardless of what state you live in, given Aust
citizenship is awarded
• No NSW prosecutions have ever been made
AU Seminars November 2018
Parentage Following OS Surrogacy
• In 2017, the Family Court held that the parentage of children born of overseas
surrogacy cannot be resolved within the present Family Law Act
• Fortuitously, there is a review of the Act is currently in process
• Surrogacy Australia & other groups have made a strong submission arguing
for this situation to be remedied, on ‘rights of the child’ grounds
Legal Parentage is currently not available to those engaging in OS
surrogacy
AU Seminars November 2018
What Does This Mean?
• Under Australian law, the overseas surrogate (and her partner) are the parents
• Under US/ Canadian/ Ukraine/ Russian law, you are the parents
• Under Australian passports law,
• the surrogate needs to sign a consent form for each renewal (5 yearly) until
your child is 18
AU Seminars November 2018
How can I protect myself?
• Ensure you have wills which specify your beneficiaries by name, as your
children are not presumed beneficiaries
• If you don’t want to bother your surrogate for Passport renewal, you can either
• Complete the B9 form
• Ensure your court order permits the issue of a passport or permits
international travel
Cant I just pretend I carried the child myself?
• The Australian government requires birth records from the delivery hospital
before they will issue citizenship
• protects against child trafficking
AU Seminars November 2018
OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN
AU Seminars November 2018
Surrogacy Outcomes for Children
Academic research shows
• lack of a genetic or gestational link between parent and child has no negative effect on
parent/child relationships or psychological well-being of mother, father or children1
• no major psychological differences between 10 yr olds born via surrogacy vs children born via
other ART or natural conception2
1 Golombok et al Human Reproduction 21, (7) pp. 1918–1924, 2006
2 Soderstrom-Anttila Surrogacy: outcomes for surrogate mothers, children and the resulting families—a systematic review
Human Reproduction Update, 22, (2) pp. 260–276, 2016
AU Seminars November 2018
Surrogacy Outcomes for Children
Children in gay father families1 show
• low levels of behavioral and emotional problems
• significantly lower levels of internalizing problems than children in lesbian mother families
1 Golombok et al Child Development, 2017 Parenting and the Adjustment of Children Born to Gay Fathers Through
Surrogacy
AU Seminars November 2018
FTS Customised Support
Help you decide on a country
More hand-holding/concierge style service
Reliable providers to meet your budget
Wide range of options
One hour or complete journey support
Top Related