Ms Rachel Rowley-Smith:

Yes. Obviously my experience from knowing my background was very different to Ms Roberts and Ms Baldwin. As I said, I went through probably a period of confusion and there are children out there who still do not know and who should be able to access support through some sort of surrogacy legislation. I undertook some counselling to help me understand and fathom everything and it was fantastic. That course of counselling has helped me understand maybe how I got into this situation without knowing, obviously because of the lack of support back then.

I know funding is difficult but it would be worthwhile having an option of surrogate mothers who are going to undertake the journey to have some sort of access to counselling should they feel they need it just to ensure they are 100% sure and know what they are undertaking, just as one would with any other procedure. It is a bit off-tangent but my husband had a vasectomy and he was told to go away, offered counselling and told to ensure he was 100% sure this was what he wanted. That should be available when it comes to anything related to building a family. Making sure there are clear channels to access support is something I have not had and my parents did not have at the time I was being conceived because everything was so new. I say that but I think surrogacy has probably been around for a lot longer than we reckon but it has never been spoken. It is probably hundreds and hundreds of years but it is just that we do not know about it. It only started really being spoken about in the 1980s due to the courage of Kim Cotton. We have a lot be thankful to her for. As long as people know how to access help, should they want it, it is extremely important for every party involved.