Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Mulligan for appearing before us and for her briefing document and opening statement. I wish to ask her about a point raised in her briefing document. In it, she writes that there has been some criticism of the choice to use post-birth rather than pre-birth orders and that she disagrees with this criticism. According to her, the problem with the pre-birth model is that it creates a situation whereby, at the point at which a surrogate gives birth to the baby, she has no legal rights whatsoever in respect of that baby. Will Dr. Mulligan expand on this point? There is another school of thought that the pre-birth order is a better system, not only from a logistical point of view, but because that is the whole idea of surrogacy. I would be interested in hearing more on this matter. I agree that it is important for a woman to have bodily autonomy, but there are some jurisdictions - I could be wrong, but I believe Canada is one - where the pregnant woman has total bodily autonomy up until the point of birth and then the parentage is transferred straight away. I would like to tease this matter out more. I found it an interesting point in Dr. Mulligan's document.