A couple who hope to have a baby through surrogacy hope that proposed new legislation will bring their dream of becoming parents one step closer.
The Assisted Human Reproduction Bill will reach Report Stage in the Dáil today and if passed, will allow for the licencing and regulation of domestic and international surrogacy.
The Government has said it will give legal status to parents who already have children through surrogacy and the bill will also cover future cases.
Prospective parents, such as Deirdre and her partner Edwin, believe surrogacy is their only avenue to having their own child.
Both of them were diagnosed with cancer in recent years and Deirdre has eggs stored from before her treatment for endometrial cancer.
However, they had to use donor sperm as Edwin was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
Because of this the couple believe there is currently no provision for them to gain parental rights post surrogacy.
“We have three embryos frozen that are made using donor sperm, but we have not been able to use them through surrogacy because of the current Irish legislation,” Deirdre said.
“These changes would mean we have choice.”
The gap in the legislation has left Deirdre and Edwin in a state of limbo, unable to move forward with their dream of having a family.
The couple hope the legislation is passed quickly.
“We don’t have time on our side obviously. We’ve already done six years of IVF. I am currently 42, Edwin is 47 and we need this legislation to progress speedily if possible,” Deirdre said.
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Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Irish Families Through Surrogacy spokesperson Cathy Wheatley said that new legislation will give families hope.
“The current rules around surrogacy in Ireland is that there’s no laws in place, it’s not regulated, it’s not something that you can go into knowing that you are protected and that everybody is protected and so the hope with the bill is that it will provide protection for all parties involved,” she said.
She added that “the families, the surrogates, the children all deserve to be protected and that’s why it’s so important that we’re doing this.”
Ms Wheatley said that “what’s really important is to remember that behind all of these policies and everything that the Government talks about are real families.
“They’re real children and we have to strive to make sure that that they are treated equally and we’ve been assured by the Minister [for Health] and the Government that there’s another bill coming in September to be able to right the wrongs, to tie up any of the loose ends that this bill doesn’t cover. And that’s really important for us”.
