Championing Surrogacy Rights: Cast Your Vote for Stephen in the Australian Surrogacy and Donor Awards
Please vote in the Australian Surrogacy and Donor Awards
I am honoured to be a nominee in the Surrogacy Person of the Year Award in the Australian Surrogacy and Donor Awards. PLEASE VOTE. This vote is a popularity contest. The winner is determined by the number of votes. Every vote is vital.
Why pick me?
No one knows surrogacy and donation like I do, both personally and professionally. In my view, the human rights should be cherished of all who interact through the surrogacy process, including the intended parents, surrogate, donor and above all the child.
I am, with my husband Mitchell, a dad through surrogacy and known egg donation.
Unlike most intended parents, we were lucky to do surrogacy in Australia, not overseas. We were the exception. I have also suffered infertility.
It is an extraordinary honour to help others become parents. I am very lucky that my passion is also my job. I advocate in this space every day. Since 1988, I have advised just under 4,000 clients in their surrogacy journeys. My clients have come from all over Australia and 38 other countries. My clients have done surrogacy in Australia and many other countries- all the usual surrogacy destinations past and present, including in 36 US states and 8 Canadian provinces, but also in countries not commonly associated with surrogacy, for example: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ghana, Iran, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
I have:
- Written two books, When Not If: Surrogacy for Australians (2022), and International Assisted Reproductive Technology (2024).
- Written a chapter in two books: Surrogacy, Law and Human Rights (with Ronli Sifris) and The Feminist Legislation Project (2024).
- Written many articles, including LGBTIQ+ access to assisted reproductive treatment (2024).
- Spoken at ~300 presentations throughout Australia and around the world about surrogacy and assisted reproductive treatment, including for the International Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
- Been since 2012 an international representative on the ART Committee of the American Bar Association, including between 2012 and 2016 when I was the principal advocate for and co-author of a policy adopted by the 400,000+ member association about a proposed Hague surrogacy conference.
- Lectured in Ethics and the Law in Reproductive Medicine (2017-2022), for which I received a teaching prize (2019).
- Been recognised by my peers, becoming an accredited family law specialist in 1996, then a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (2014) (and serving on several committees) and the first international Fellow of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (2014) (and serving on two committees).
- Served as secretary and director of the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand– the first lawyer and the first openly gay person to do so.
- Received several awards, including the inaugural Pride in Law Award (2020) and the Queensland Law Society President’s Medal (2023).
- Made many submissions to Government, resulting in positive law changes in the ACT, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria.
- Appeared in pioneering court cases, including the first case in the world that decided that conception was the act of pregnancy, not fertilisation, pioneered registration of US surrogacy orders in Australia, clarified who was a parent under Queensland law, and took into account the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child when deciding surrogacy cases.
- Called repeatedly through the media for reform of our surrogacy laws.
- Led the successful fight in Queensland, against huge odds, to stop the criminalisation of gays, lesbians and singles for undertaking surrogacy.
- Co-founded the International Surrogacy Forum, which showcases research and regulation of surrogacy.
- Had my love story with my husband written up in Trent Dalton’s Love Stories.
I would be grateful if you were able to support me.
