Dr. Brian Tobin:

I disagree with that because we could have a better, more cohesive Bill for both types, namely, domestic and international surrogacy, rather than allowing one Bill to go ahead. Maybe this committee will suggest viable amendments to the Bill but if not, it looks like it will forge ahead and regulate surrogacy for a generation in this country. There is a better way and more time is needed. I do not see the rush. I sat here in 2014 speaking on surrogacy in the Children and Family Relationships Act. The surrogacy provisions were deleted from that legislation before it became an Act. Here we are eight years later and I do not want this to go on for another eight years, but would six or 12 months make a massive difference? I propose in the interim that reconstituting second-parent adoption would involve amendments to adoption legislation, which is not as big a deal as amending the 2022 Bill or a stand-alone surrogacy Bill. There are pragmatic interim or stop-gap measures in the form of my recommendations on second-parent adoption or guardianship until we get the surrogacy Act the State needs.