Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I want to query an aspect of this amendment. The Bill states that people can only act as surrogates if they have previously given birth to a child. I am curious to know the basis for that requirement. The UK's Law Commission recently considered this and determined that it should not be a requirement under UK law. The commission found it constituted quite a paternalistic interference with a woman's bodily autonomy, that it inaccurately suggests that past pregnancies are a reliable predictor of future pregnancies and that it imposed the value that a family is incomplete without children. I am curious to know what the Minister's thinking is in that regard.