Govt working to update surrogacy laws

Parents must adopt a child born by surrogacy in New Zealand. Photo: Getty Images
Parents must adopt a child born by surrogacy in New Zealand. Photo: Getty Images
The Government will update New Zealand's surrogacy law to make the process easier and less discriminatory,  Justice Minister Kiri Allan says.

"Surrogacy has become an established method of forming a family for people unable to carry a child themselves. However, the laws that apply to surrogacy are outdated and need to change," Allan said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Parents must adopt a child born by surrogacy under the 70-year-old adoption laws.

Justice Minister Kiri Allan. Photo: NZ Herald
Justice Minister Kiri Allan. Photo: NZ Herald
The Parliamentary Health Committee is reviewing the new law proposed by Labour Member of Parliament Tāmati Coffey, while considering recommendations from a recent report on surrogacy laws.

The committee is considering introducing a new process to determine legal parents rather than adoption, establishing a surrogacy birth register, clarifying payments relating to surrogacy and accommodating international surrogacy arrangements, the statement said.

Juanita Copeland, a board member of Fertility New Zealand, a non-profit organisation, said the bill meets a need for greater clarity and protection for everyone involved in surrogacy.

"It will make it easier for people to build the family they have always dreamed of while honouring the tremendous gift that surrogacy is," Copeland said.

The legislation is unlikely to get before the House of Representatives before the election on October 14.