Ms Natalie Gamble:

In the UK the current birth certificate records the surrogate as the mother initially and then after the parental order is granted, the original birth certificate is sealed and a new birth certificate is issued that records the intended parents as the legal parents. There is a proposal with the UK Law Commission to maintain a national surrogacy register. It would mean that in future, even if birth certificates are issued initially with the intended parents on them, there would be a record of who had carried the child and given birth so the information is safeguarded for the child in future. This is not about erasing the person who has given birth but reflecting her role as a surrogate but not a mother in the conception of this child and retaining those records for the child for the future. That is entirely appropriate and ethical. Those who are concerned about that not being ethical have not spoken to surrogates.

When we dealt with our response to the Law Commission proposal we spent a considerable amount of time speaking to real surrogates in the UK who were carrying children. They were absolutely adamant that the people who were saying they were mothers and they needed to be protected, safeguarded and have a right to change their minds completely misunderstood what they were doing. There is a kind of misguided feminism around protecting women who are actually well-informed and making considered choices and it must be treated with enormous care.

The Senator asked if adoption would be a better option. Parental orders were explicitly designed in the UK in 1990 when the legislation was going through to be an alternative to adoption. It was recognised that these are children being conceived through assisted reproduction and are biologically connected with at least one of their parents. There is an intention for these people to be the parents from the moment of birth and they will care for the children from the moment of birth. These are not adopted children born into one family, given up and placed into another family. It is very important for children's identity to recognise that.

These are children who belong in the category of children conceived with donors and through IVF, etc. It is absolutely important for children in the long term for information to be kept about any donors and surrogates involved. Their birth story is core to their identities and they should have a right to access that information. This belongs in the category of assisted reproduction and not in the category of adoption.