No one yet knows when or if surrogacy will restart in Nepal

Two weeks ago, the Nepal Supreme Court ordered that commercial surrogacy there stop.The order is made until the conclusion of the case, where according to reports, a lawyer has claimed that surrogacy involves exploitation of the surrogate and the child. It is not known when or if surrogacy will restart in Nepal. Currently 11 Australian… Read More »Custom Single Post Header

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No one yet knows when or if surrogacy will restart in Nepal

Two weeks ago, the Nepal Supreme Court ordered that commercial surrogacy there stop.The order is made until the conclusion of the case, where according to reports, a lawyer has claimed that surrogacy involves exploitation of the surrogate and the child.

It is not known when or if surrogacy will restart in Nepal.

Currently 11 Australian babies have been born in Nepal, and left, and about another 60 surrogacies involving Australian intended parents are under way. It is not known how or if those babies will be allowed to leave Nepal.

It turns out that Nepal has no legal framework for surrogacy at all. Part of the criticism in the case is that the basis for surrogacy in Nepal is a cabinet decision last year to allow surrogacy, provided that the surrogate is not from Nepal. In other words, the Nepalese Government did not ensure that laws were passed to allow surrogacy, just an agreement in principle, that fertility tourism was a great idea, as long as it did not involve Nepalese women, which necessarily means that the surrogates come from India.

A further criticism in the case is that birth certificates are not issued by the appropriate authorities, but by the hospitals concerned, and that children leaving Nepal are doing so in breach of the 1961 Hague Convention on the Protection of Infants. Australia is not a signatory to that Convention. Neither is Nepal.

It is yet another example of unclear processes and lack of clarity in a developing country (as seen previously in India in 2012 and Thailand last year) that has led to rules being changed, or indeed rules suddenly being written or created, which changes the game for those unfortunate enough to have gone there.

It is yet another example why compensated surrogacy should be allowed to occur in Australia- to reduce demand for overseas surrogacy arrangements in developing countries. Australians would much rather go to their local IVF clinic and undertake surrogacy here than go somewhere else, given the choice.

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ACT Government Surrogacy Bill

The ACT Government has today introduced a bill to amend the ACT’s surrogacy laws. The proposed changes are more incremental than fundamental. They include allowing a single person to undertake surrogacy, for the surrogate to be single if needed, a requirement for legal advice and counselling beforehand, a written agreement being required, that traditional surrogacy is… Read More »ACT Government Surrogacy Bill

Planning to resolve: ADR in ART

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