The baby was not hers, not really. Hun Daneth felt that, counted on that. When she gave birth to the boy, who didn’t look like her, she knew it even more. But four years after acting as a surrogate for a Chinese businessman, who said he had used a Russian egg donor, Ms Hun Daneth Read more
Surrogacy’s not for us, say members of a high-profile Italian feminist organisation, Se Non Ora Quando. While they argue it’s the right of every woman to decide what to do with her own body, they are staunchly against surrogacy. Surrogacy in this context is the practice of arranging for another woman to carry and give Read more
Australia’s Catholic bishops have strongly objected to any suggestion of a commercial surrogacy industry. In a submission to an Australian parliamentary sub-committee’s inquiry, the bishops said it would be “intolerable” to argue “harm minimisation” as justification for commercial surrogacy. “Children are not commodities and should not be bought,” said Bishop Peter Comensoli, the bishops’ delegate Read more
Thailand’s parliament has voted to ban commercial surrogacy after outrage erupted over the unregulated industry following a series of scandals including the case of an Australian couple accused of abandoning a baby with Down’s syndrome. A draft bill — which would see those caught profiting from surrogacy punished with up to ten years in prison Read more
There has been extensive recent discussion of the circumstances of baby Gammy, suffering from Down’s syndrome and heart problems, and apparently left behind with the birth mother in Thailand by the Australian commissioning couple, though they took his well sister home. Australians have responded generously with support for this photogenic little boy so that he Read more
A Vatican paper says the alleged rejection of a Down Syndrome baby in a surrogacy case is a result of a culture that turns babies into consumer products. Surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua from Thailand is caring for seven-month-old Gammy after an Australian couple chose his healthy twin sister, but abandoned him. The couple, David and Read more
The day after Stephanie Blessing learned she had been conceived with the assistance of a sperm donor and that the man she knew and loved as her father for 32 years was not her father, she went into shock. She remembers sitting in her rocking chair, staring into space. It was so bad, her husband Read more
Three private members’ bills which would enable same-sex adoption are either in the Parliamentary members’ ballot or are being drafted. One of them is being developed by National’s Nikki Kay and Green’s Kevin Hague. In an email to gayexpress on Monday Hague said “the cat’s out of the bag” after the National Party’s northern regional Read more
It is illegal to pay for one in New Zealand so some couples are seeking a surrogate mother overseas. Child, Youth and Family had never heard of an international surrogacy case before last year, but since then the agency has had 63 inquiries from people looking overseas as a last resort for a family. International case Read more
“For medical purposes I am her mother,” says Jennifer Williams, “But I am also her aunt.” Ms Williams son is also his cousin’s half-brother. This is how composite families have changed the notion of who gets a branch on the family tree. Laura Ashmore and Jennifer Williams are sisters. After that, their relationship becomes more complex. Read more