Surrogacy and the law: three perspectives

Abstract

In this article we argue that, from the perspective of the surrogacy triad, the legal process in New Zealand does not work well. We conducted semi-structured interviews with surrogates and intended parents about their experience of the New Zealand system and found several common themes, which we report here. Most legal professionals lack experience with surrogacy adoptions and do not always provide accurate advice, which leads to additional cost and stress for the intended parents in particular. A large part of the problem is that the legislation itself is not fit for purpose and forces the triad into a Family Court procedure that is antithetical to the intentions of all members. ECART plays a valuable role in facilitating domestic surrogacies and we argue for it to be expanded to include all traditional surrogacies and to be the only port of call for the triad to establish the intended parents as the legal parents of the baby from birth.