Adoption - The ethical option?

12 October 2014

By Caitlin Virtue

The Chief Justice of the Family Court, Diana Bryant, has called for an improbable national inquiry into commercial surrogacy after another report surfaced about the dark side of the industry. This time a baby was left with the surrogate mother in India and apparently sold, while the Australian couple took home the twin of the preferred gender.

Photo: ABC

If we stop treating children as commodities, what options are left for Australian couples seeking a baby?

At the recent COAG meeting adoption law reform was on the agenda, and a new organisation was announced by Prime Minister Tony Abbott to help make intercountry adoption approvals quicker, less expensive and with much less heartbreak.

As there aren’t many babies to adopt in Australia, many prospective parents wish to pursue intercountry adoption. But in reality, this option contributes to no less of a baby trade than surrogacy.

Celebrities advocate intercountry adoption and want to make the process easier to engage in. Figures such as Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness have been calling for more streamlined regulation for years.

Hugh Jackmam, Deborra-Lee Furness and Tony Abbott. Photo: The Conversation

In August, the Legislation Committee of the Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs issued a report in support of the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Intercountry Adoption) Bill, which treats bilateral agreements between parties to the Hague Convention in the same way as arrangements with non-member countries when adopted children apply for Australian citizenship.

In order to maintain a steady flow of children for potential adoptive parents, the proposed approach would allow the government to enter bilateral arrangements with countries that cannot guarantee the interests of the child will be met.

UNICEF warns simplistic, paternalistic approaches to adoption are dangerous. All countries sending and receiving children should take into account poverty doesn’t justify adoption and a child has a right to his or her existing family.

The pursuit of international adoption by couples in countries that cannot guarantee the protection of the human rights of children supports a consumer led model at both ends of the adoption process, which contributes to the exploitation of children.

Where someone claims they really want to be a parent, why is it necessary to have ownership of a child, preferably a baby?

Foster care is an alternative to purchasing children. There are many children who need a home because through no fault of their own, they cannot live with their own parents or families.

Yet, where people can afford to participate in an easily accessible baby trade it appears foster care and parenting an older child or a child with a disability is a much less attractive option.

Further reading

Frequently asked questions about intercountry adoption, W n.d., viewed on 89 October 2014, <http://www.ag.gov.au/FamiliesAndMarriage/IntercountryAdoption/Pages/Frequentlyaskedquestionsaboutintercountryadoption.aspx.>

Fronek, P 2014, Are we now shifting responsibility for adopted children offshore?, viewed on 9 October 2014, <http://theconversation.com/are-we-now-shifting-responsibility-for-adopted-children-offshore-28599>.

Fronek, P, Cuthbert, D and Keyes, M 2014, Australia puts children at risk by ‘freeing up’ the adoption market, viewed 11 October 2014, <http://theconversation.com/australia-puts-children-at-risk-by-freeing-up-the-adoption-market-31064>.

Hawley, S and Smith, S 2014, Australian High Commission knew of disturbing Indian surrogacy case, Chief Justice of Family Court says,

viewed 9 October 2014, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-08/high-commission-knew-of-surrogacy-case-in-india/5799438>

Intercountry adoptions, by country of origin, W n.d., viewed 9 October 2014, <http://www.ag.gov.au/FamiliesAndMarriage/IntercountryAdoption/Documents/tableA10-intercountry-adoptions-by-country-of-origin-2003-4-to-2012-13.pdf>

Mitchell, M 2014, OPINION: Time to strengthen our lax surrogacy laws, viewed 11 October 2014, <http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2591574/opinion-time-to-strengthen-our-lax-surrogacy-laws/?cs=308>.

Sky News: COAG makes overseas adoption easier 2014, viewed on 16 October 2014, <http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2014/10/11/coag-makes-overseas-adoption-easier.html>.

The Guardian: US and Vietnam to resume adoption program after six-year ban, 2014, viewed 11 October 2014, <http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/12/us-vietnam-adoption-resume-ban-baby-selling>.

Manufacture my baby

1 October 2014

By Caitlin Virtue

We live in a weird world. We have sex for pleasure and use contraception to prevent pregnancy. And later expect children for personal fulfilment, without the sex.

Those unable to naturally conceive can today try to manufacture a baby through IVF. In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) involves forming embryos from the eggs and sperm of the couple or donors in a culture dish, then transferring them into the female partner or a surrogate mothers uterus. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is an IVF procedure where the sperm can be injected directly into the egg.

Sperm being injected into an egg in ICSI. Photo: Daily Mail

It is illegal to pay donors in Australia, but overseas the IVF industry can be a source of income for those who donate the eggs and sperm. US blogger Randi D of www.xojane.com revealed she donated her eggs so she could travel around the world, in a process requiring two weeks of injections and a small procedure under anaesthesia. 

However, undergoing procedures involved in IVF does not come without risks to donors, surrogates, prospective mothers and babies. Studies suggest ovulation-stimulating fertility drugs used during IVF increase the risk of birth defects and leukaemia in babies, and increase the risk of ovarian cancer in women.

There have also been concerns voiced about health risks to ICSI babies, such as higher rate of autism, mental retardation and birth defects. Some scientists argue this is the result of the process of natural selection being subverted, as the strongest sperm does not necessarily fertilise the egg in ICSI.

So, is it wise to go against nature to produce life in a lab?

The want of a baby seems to be a first world problem the wealthy can attempt to remedy with IVF. In spending money customers seek the perfect outcome, yet support a system open to abuse by commercial surrogacy and unethical arrangements, where there is an increased risk things could go wrong.

Remember Octomum - The single mother of 6, who gave birth to another 8 babies conceived by IVF in one day? Nadya Sulema is now surviving of food stamps and on probation after not declaring money earned in the adult industry.

Every IVF baby has the right to life, however, by producing more babies in a lab, IVF not only places extra pressure on the health and welfare system, but also increases demand for non-renewable natural resources. In an overpopulated planet, maybe it is not a bad thing if some of the rich world, responsible for overconsumption and enlarging the human footprint on our environment, do not breed.

Further reading

IVF Australia: Genetic testing PGD, viewed 11 October 2014, <http://ivf.com.au/fertility-treatment/genetic-testing-pgd#testing-for-translocation>.

IVF Australia: IVF Treatment, viewed 11 October 2014, <http://ivf.com.au/fertility-treatment/ivf-treatment#how-does-ivf-work->.

Randi D 2014, I Donated My Eggs So I Could Travel the World, viewed 11 October 2014, <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/xojane-/donate-eggs_b_5884734.html>.

Naish, J 2012, It brings joy to countless families, but as another disturbing study emerges, what is the truth about IVF and birth defects?, viewed 11 October 2014

<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2151337/IVF-It-brings-joy-countless-families-disturbing-study-emerges-truth-IVF-birth-defects.html#ixzz3EacVFT00>.

Pearce, F 2014, It’s not overpopulation that causes climate change, it’s overconsumption, viewed 17 October 2014, <http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/19/not-overpopulation-that-causes-climate-change-but-overconsumption>.

 

Pedersen, T 2013, IVF procedure linked to higher autism risk, viewed 11 October 2014, <http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/07/06/ivf-procedure-linked-to-higher-autism-risk/56898.html>.

USA today: 8 facts about Octomum Nadya Suleman 2014, viewed 15 October 2014, <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/24/8-facts-octomom/4816235/%3E.>.

White, H 2012, IVF and the ‘right’ to be a parent: the child as an expensive lifestyle accessory, viewed 11 October 2014, <http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/ivf-and-the-right-to-be-a-parent-the-child-as-an-expensive-lifestyle-access>.

Buy a baby

25 September 2014

By Caitlin Virtue

The story of baby Gammy, and the ramifications it has had for Australians seeking a baby by surrogate in Thailand, is fuelling much debate about the international and domestic options available to Australians pursuing parenthood.

This blog exists to explore how the rights of the child can best be protected while satisfying the desires of Western couples unable to naturally conceive a baby.

Baby Gammy in Thailand. Photo: Sky

Commercial surrogacy is outlawed in Australia, yet there are hundreds of babies produced every year for Australian couples at overseas clinics. Following the Thai government’s crackdown on surrogacy services, Australian couples are continuing to seek surrogates in India, and looking to new frontiers such as Mexico and Nepal.

The exchange of money is justified in overseas surrogacy arrangements as compensation for the surrogate mother’s services, essentially renting her womb to people seeking a baby.

While buying a baby may remedy the emotional response felt by people who cannot naturally conceive, there is no right to be a parent. The concept of parental rights only comes into play once a child exists, and fundamentally the notion refers to the right of parents to raise their child as they see fit.

Despite someone being in a financial position where they can afford to pay for a baby through commercial surrogacy, a child should never be bought and sold. The practice reduces children and the woman’s uterus to be commodities, in a transaction that promotes exploitation.

Gammy was apparently abandoned due to his Down syndrome – He was an imperfect product. Even more disturbing, his Australian father is a convicted paedophile.

Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner, Megan Mitchell, argues it is not unrealistic to consider determined predators will use surrogacy as a method to procure access to children.

In 2013, Australian citizen, Mark J. Newton, was sentenced to 40years in an American prison for sexually abusing a boy he adopted via surrogacy. Newton and his long-term boyfriend Peter Truong, started abusing the boy days after his birth and over six years they travelled the world to offer him to an international syndicate of paedophiles.

Newton, right, with Truong and their son. Photo: ABC

More recently, a New South Wales man was charged in September with sexually abusing his twin daughters born to a surrogate in Thailand.

It cannot be denied that payment for surrogacy creates a market for a life, of which the mere existence is an abuse of human rights. Prospective parents and national, state and international leaders should no longer ignore the reality of a baby trade, accessed by anyone with enough money.

Further reading

Australian Government: Rights of parents and children, W n.d., viewed 11 October 2014, <http://www.ag.gov.au/RightsAndProtections/HumanRights/PublicSectorGuidanceSheets/Pages/Rightsofparentsandchildren.aspx>.

Browne, R 2014, Australian parents turn to Mexico as Thailand tightens surrogacy laws, viewed 11 October 2014, <http://www.smh.com.au/world/australian-parents-turn-to-mexico-as-thailand-tightens-surrogacy-laws-20140807-101e3n.html#ixzz3DZEmGCAA>.

News.com: Thousands of Australians paying for surrogacy in India and Thailand, viewed 11 October 2014, <http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/thousands-of-infertile-australians-paying-for-surrogacy-in-india-and-thailand/story-fnet08xa-1226872653386>.

Ralston, D 2013, Named: the Australian paedophile jailed for 40 years, viewed 11 October 2014,<http://www.smh.com.au/national/named-the-australian-paedophile-jailed-for-40-years-20130630-2p5da.html>.