destination for parents-to-be to consider
when deciding to start a family.
offer in several assisted-reproductive
clinics. A woman agrees to carry
another couple's children to term. The
couple will then keep the child as their
own. The parties enter a contract where
the surrogate mother is paid for this
service. On a personal level the use
of a body as a `rent-a-space' service
is unpleasant to me. But perhaps my
western way of thinking clouds this
view. Certainly some women those
from low-medium economic statuses
see reproductive tourism as a way
to bring much-needed income to their
families. This is not unlike the cash-for-
organs debate. While repellant to us in
the developed world, these schemes
are a way in which individuals provide
Australia surrogacy laws and the future of the
reproductive tourism.
the average family with cost restraints.
These families often pursue the path
of reproductive tourism in order to
achieve their goals of having a baby
to call their own. Reproductive tourism
is another form of medical tourism
where clients travel overseas and seek
fertility treatments because they are
unavailable in their own countries.
that clinics that offer reproductive
services are wide ranging and are
based in countries such as Thailand,
India, Georgia, South Africa, the
U.S and Ukraine. These clinics offer
assisted fertility treatments such as
IVF, commercial surrogacy and egg
and sperm donations. Commercial
surrogacy is rather lucrative in the
U.S and as parents are given the
option of embryo screening and
made to Indian surrogacy
laws, prospective
Australian parents who are
family through surrogate arrangements
are left stranded in a mess of legal red
tape and uncertainty. Reproductive
tourism is gaining traction as a method
for both couples and individuals to have
their own biological children where
previously this option was unavailable.
But with inconsistent state and federal
laws and incomplete legislative
framework, the issue of surrogacy has
become a legal headache.
celebrities taking the surrogacy route,
media coverage has brought the
issue to wider public attention. With
access to wide resources, celebrities
are able to go down the avenue of