Those from the 7 countries should pause on surrogacy in the US
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
People living in Australia who have citizenship of one of the list of 7 countries banned by President Trump should reconsider undertaking surrogacy in the US. While Malcolm Turnbull has said that the US will exempt dual citizen Australians from the ban, news from this morning was that a dual national Iranian/Australian student had been denied a visa to enter the US as part of a school trip. Presumably all her school mates will be able to go, but she won’t.
The seven countries are:
- Iran
- Iraq
- Libya
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Syria
- Yemen
Given that surrogacy is a journey that typically takes 12-18 months on a good journey, but might take up to 4 years if things don’t go quite as smoothly, not being able to travel to the country where you are undertaking surrogacy is a disaster in the making if you are an intended parent.
Those who come from those countries should think very carefully before considering surrogacy in the US. There could be few things worse than having your child born there and not being able to be with them.
Let’s hope some clear, transparent and certain rules are put back in place for those seeking to undergo surrogacy in the US.
