Surrogacy and Abortion

The Tasmanian Surrogacy Bill 2011 and the Surrogacy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011 offer no protection for unborn children, who can by power of the mother, have their lives ended, by abortion. If the unborn child is found by prenatal diagnosis to have disabilities, imperfections or to be of the non-preferred sex they are in threat of being aborted. This goes completely against the Tasmanian Criminal Code Act 1924, which states that:

“The termination of a pregnancy is legally justified if

(a) two registered medical practitioners have certified, in writing, that the continuation of the pregnancy would involve greater risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman than if the pregnancy were terminated;”[i]
 
The practice of aborting unborn children, who have genetic abnormalities or are of the non-preferred sex, not only ends the life of an innocent human being but is in fact of great physical and psychological danger to the mother. For example, the risk of breast cancer later in life is increased; women who have had abortions have a 50% greater risk of getting breast cancer. There is more than double the risk if a woman's abortion was before the age of 18 or over the age of 30. [ii].

1-14% of women will require a blood transfusion due to bleeding from abortion, and hepatitis can occur as a result of the blood transfusion. Anywhere from mild fever to death can occur as a result of an abortion (1-4 – 1-50 women) A woman can have an ectopic pregnancy, which is a pregnancy that occurs outside the uterus, if it is not discovered early enough, it will rupture, and the mother can bleed to death(if she does not have emergency surgery).[iii]
 
After an abortion there is a 30% greater chance of having an ectopic pregnancy and after two or more abortions, the increased risk of having an ectopic pregnancy is 160%. 1 out of 20 women suffer cervical damage due to abortion, this causes a 50% chance of miscarriage in the next pregnancy (if not treated during the pregnancy).Women who have had greater than two abortions have double the chance of first trimester miscarriages and ten times the number of second trimester miscarriages, following a vaginal abortion. There is a whole range of other physical complications that can occur to the mother, a few of them include bladder injury, bowel injury (which can cause death if not treated early enough), perforation of the uterus and sterility.[iv]
 
A child that is born with a genetic abnormality or disability can be rejected by both the birth mother and the future parent(s) with whom she had an agreement. The child could then be left without parents, as none of the parties would take the parental responsibilities of care for the child.

Furthermore, the lives of unborn children may end by abortion when more than one child has been conceived and only one is desired by the commissioning parent(s). Such a case arose in 2001 in the United Kingdom when the birth mother, carrying twins, sued the commissioning couple from California who disavowed the contract when she refused to abort one of her babies.[v]
 

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[i] Criminal Code Act 1924, 164, (2)
Medical Termination of pregnancy
http://www.thelaw.tas.gov.au/tocview/index.w3p;cond=;doc_id=69%2B%2B1924%2BGS1%40EN%2B20110706130000;histon=;prompt=;rec=;term=
[ii] Daling J.R., Malone K.E., Voight L.F., White E., and Weiss N.S., (1994), Risk of Breast Cancer Among Young Women: A Relationship to Individual Abortion, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 86: 1584 - 1592.
[iii] Before you choose abortion - Heritage House Literature., http://www.abortionfacts.com/literature/literature_928YC.asp
[iv] Id.
[v] “Surrogate mother sues California couple”, 14/8/2001
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/LAW/08/13/surrogate.dispute/index.html

Surrogacy and Adoption

It is important to note the major differences between the institution of adoption and surrogacy. Firstly, adoption is a child-centred social institution. Adoption exists to give children the mother and father they need. It does not exist to give adults the children they want. Adoption exists to help disadvantaged children; however, this is not the purpose of surrogacy. According to the Media Release, Fair and Responsible Surrogacy Reform, “The [former Tasmanian] Attorney-General, David Bartlett, today tabled legislation to allow altruistic surrogacy, and help many Tasmanians realise their dream of starting their own family.”[i] This outlines that the legislation focuses primarily on adults and does not adequately consider the needs of children. Mr Bartlett continues,” The most crucial thing a young child can have is loving, devoted parents – regardless of whether that’s a man and woman, unmarried people or same-sex couples”[ii]. This is in fact not true, regardless of how loving a homosexual couple or a single man or woman are, children will be lacking the other parent in their lives.


The evidence that surrogacy is not in the best interests of children comes in the first detailed study on the similar issue of donor insemination, entitled My Daddy's name is donor:
 
[Y]oung adults conceived through sperm donation are hurting more, are more confused, and feel more isolated from their families. They fare worse than their peers raised by biological parents on important outcomes such as depression, delinquency and substance abuse. Nearly two-thirds [65%] agree, “My sperm donor is half of who I am.”
Young adults conceived through sperm donation (or “donor offspring”) experience profound struggles with their origins and identities. [iii]
 
Children born as a result of donor insemination, similar to the children born as a result of a surrogacy arrangement, suffer from the lack of knowledge of their real parents, a lack of identity, a lack of belonging and a lack of their origin. “ More than half (53 percent) agree, “I have worried that if I try to get more information about or have a relationship with my sperm donor, my mother and/or the father who raised me would feel angry or hurt.””[iv]
 
The study also shows that children long to know their real parents:
Nearly half of donor offspring (48 percent) compared to about a fifth of adopted adults (19 percent) agree, “When I see friends with their biological fathers and mothers, it makes me feel sad.” Similarly, more than half of donor offspring (53 percent, compared to 29 percent of the adopted adults) agree, “It hurts when I hear other people talk about their genealogical background.”[v]
 
Overall, adoption exists primarily to assist disadvantaged children, whose birth parents have died or are incapable of providing them with the necessary care they deserve. Secondarily, adoption can alleviate the pain of infertile couples of not having biological children, while keeping the rights of children to have the care of a mother and a father and keeping open the option of knowing and having a relationship with their biological parent(s).

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[i] Fair and Responsible Surrogacy Reform Media Release
David Bartlett MP, Attorney-General, Tuesday 15 March 2011
http://www.media.tas.gov.au/print.php?id=31824
[ii] Id.
[iii] Marquadt, E, et al., My daddy’s name is donor: a new study of young adults conceived through sperm donation, Institute for American Values, 2010, p 5-6;
http://www.scribd.com/doc/32495612/My-Daddy-s-Name-is-Donor
[iv] Ibid, p 7.
[v] Id.

Surrogacy and the Rights of Children

Surrogacy is an issue that, while many may not realise, will greatly affect society at all levels.

Australia and western civilisation have for centuries recognised and upheld some key principles, such as the natural human rights of children to have a relationship with their real (biological) mother and father. Society has also upheld that mothers and fathers have distinct characteristics and traits that children respond differently to, and that mothers and fathers are not interchangeable.

Mothers and fathers are essential in the lives of children for their full development. Societies across the globe and throughout the ages have always recognised that biology is the primary way parenthood is defined and while the state recognises parentage it does not control or assign it.

Surrogacy will bring untold damage to future generations of children by taking them away from their real and biological parents. Children are not the property of the State nor are they the property of their parents. They are, however, entrusted to the care of their real and natural parents. It is right and just that children are cared for and nurtured by their real parents. It is in fact the child's natural right to know and have a relationship with their real parents.

 For the State to separate children from their natural parents without the child's consent is a violation of their human rights. It is well recognised and scientific studies have shown that children have an intrinsic need for both a mother and a father. Most Australians support this view, as shown in a 2009 Galaxy poll where 86% of those surveyed agreed that children should be raised by their own mother and father. Children also need to have knowledge or the right to pursue knowledge of their natural biological mother and father, as is often the case with adopted children.

Surrogacy sets children as a commodity and a right of adults and not as individuals in which their rights are paramount and override the "needs", or more correctly put, the wants of adults. Children's rights need to be respected and protected.

Moreover, it is not in the best interest of children to allow surrogacy, in which children are deprived of their real mother, their real father or both. Noting that the roles of mothers and fathers are different, however complementary, they are not interchangeable, and thus children should not be deprived of the care of their real mother and a father.