Ms Victoria Reid:

I thank the committee for inviting me to speak. I was a surrogate for my sister, Emma, eight years ago. I will tell the committee members a little bit about Emma’s journey. I do not have any childhood memories of Emma in which she was without a doll in her hand or was not wheeling a pram. From the time she could walk and talk, Emma would say she wanted to be a mammy and that one day she would have a little girl called Sophie and a little boy called Sean. This was her dream. Fast forward some years later when Emma was 17 years old and she was given some devastating news. It was discovered that she had a medical condition that meant she would be unable to carry her own children. Although her ovaries were working fine and she would be able to have her own biological children, she would need someone who could give her babies a safe place to grow.

My mother told me that Emma’s heart broke into a million pieces that day. My immediate response was that I would be willing and waiting to help Emma in her journey to motherhood whenever she felt the time was right. For me, it was more than just about giving her baby a safe place to grow; it was also about helping to mend her broken heart. In 2013, we began that process using Emma's embryos and her husband's sperm. A year later, a little baby girl called Sophie was born into mammy’s arms. Right in front of me, all the pieces of my sister’s broken heart were put back together again. My sister was finally a mammy. What an honour it was for me to be a part of something so special.

With the help of our sisters, Laura and Jessica, and our best friend, Leigh, Emma and her husband, Michael, spent the next seven years trying to give Sophie a sibling. After five attempts, three miscarriages and the devastating loss of their daughter, Katie, they almost gave up. I do not know how or where Emma found the strength, but somehow she found the fight in her to try what would be her last attempt at giving Sophie an earth brother or sister. With the help of our sister, Laura, this time last year, I am delighted to say that a little boy called Sean finally made his appearance into the world, and he brought a friend with him, his twin brother Harry. Both babies were born into their mammy's arms, just like their sisters were.

It is difficult to fit into the time available today a full description of just how hard the past eight years have been for my sister, but I hope I have given the committee members some kind of insight into the hardship she has had to endure. It has been mentally, physically and emotionally exhausting. It has been a fight from the very beginning. The day Emma held her little boys in her arms was the day her fight should have been over. Sadly, though, due to the laws here, her fight continues because her children do not have the same rights as mine or yours. Emma does not have the same rights as a mother as I do. In fact, I have more legal rights to her daughter than she does herself.

My experience of acting as a surrogate was an amazing one, but - like Ms O'Shea - one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do was walk into a registry office with my sister’s husband and register her baby as my own. This was the only option we had because of these outdated laws. These laws need to catch up with science. These laws are unfair to the surrogate and to the mother. I do not think there is a person in this room today who could look my sister in the eye and tell her she is not a mammy, but these laws tell her just that. These laws deprive Emma of a title she so rightly deserves. She has four beautiful biological children. Emma is Sophie's, Katie's, Sean's and Harry's mammy.