Ms Selina Bonnie:

It is lovely to see Deputy Higgins again. It is really important, as with anything in life, to get the foundations right from the start. That is why I feel very strongly that it is important that the issue of equality and intersectionality is recognised in this process so that it inclusive and providing equality for all. It is important to recognise, right from the start, that people are more than just one thing. The foundations are important and now is the opportunity to get it right from the start.

International surrogacy is an essential part of the path to parenthood. When people are on a journey to becoming a mother or parent and they have fertility difficulties, there are many different steps they can take. If they take the first step and it does not work, they go to the next step and it gets more and more intense as they go along. Personally, I had one failed IVF attempt and even if we could have afforded, both emotionally and financially, to try again it would not have been possible for me from a medical and health point of view. We had one shot and that was it. If our final attempt had not resulted in our miracle girl, then because adoption had been excluded for us due to the prejudice of the system, surrogacy would have been our next step.

I am half Indian, so I would have loved to have gone in that direction and ended up with a part-Indian child. It would have been a perfect link to my heritage.

It is important to provide people with options because it is not just a want but an ingrained need for many people, though not all, to be a mother or parent and share all the nurturing instinct within. To be told you are disabled and that is not for you is soul-destroying for many people. That is why we have a responsibility to get things right now for the future.