The Human Rights Implications of Not-for-Profit Surrogacy Organizations in Cross-Border Commercial Surrogacy: An Australian Case Study

Cross-border surrogacy is a global industry that offers intended parents options for family formation by providing foreign surrogate mothers remuneration, directly or via an intermediary, in excess of their actual out-of-pocket expenses. It is a multi-million-dollar business with no international regulation.(1) In most countries, limited domestic regulation or oversight is in place. Many countries - such as Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, Hong Kong and South Africa - only permit altruistic surrogacy, while Germany and France ban surrogacy entirely.(2) Fully legalized commercial surrogacy is the model followed in some states in the United States of America (USA), as well as Georgia and Ukraine.(3) This unregulated cross-border market has produced a lucrative business, with surrogacy arrangements growing by nearly 1,000 per cent between 2006 and 2010.(4) The for-profit surrogacy sector has expanded and fertility not-for-profit organizations have also entered the market.(5)