Dr. Lydia Bracken:

I thank the Senator for her question. On the different protections under a pre-conception or post-birth model, that is really a question for the Irish Legislature to decide. If it decides to adopt a pre-conception approach, we can decide what the ethical standards within that approach will be. Similarly, we can decide the standards that would apply under a post-birth approach. If you look around the world, you will see that different standards apply under different systems, depending on the choices that have been made. However, under a pre-conception model, the same ethical standards would apply as would apply under a post-birth model. The Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022, as currently drafted, is very clear that the surrogate always retains bodily integrity throughout the pregnancy and makes the choices during the pregnancy. Regardless of whether a pre-conception or post-conception approach is adopted, that would remain. It is up to the Legislature to decide what the ethical safeguards are.

With regard to other measures that might be taken, as I mentioned a moment ago there is a proposal in the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill that guardianship could be granted to the intending parents at some point after the birth of the child by way of a statutory agreement with the surrogate, although I should say that is within the domestic surrogacy model. As written, it seems that would be possible before a parental order is issued in the case of surrogacy. There would therefore be some decision-making capacity. There is a difficulty in that there would necessarily be a time lag before guardianship could transferred through the statutory declaration with the surrogate, which does not address the vulnerability issue we would be concerned about when the child is born. That is certainly something that is proposed within the Bill.