The state government is in the middle of a broad review of surrogacy laws. It is grappling with the complexities of co-parenting; the families created through surrogacy; and how best to protect the rights of the children involved. The progress comes as one couple named the arrival of a surrogate daughter after a long and painful fertility journey.
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00:00They met as strangers on a surrogacy Facebook page.
00:0718 months later, Michaela Roy gave birth to Silver and Kim Lloyd's baby, Delilah.
00:12Doesn't even feel real, does it?
00:15No, no at all.
00:17The Lloyds had almost given up on becoming parents after losing their premature son, Roman,
00:22and then needing a hysterectomy.
00:25Michaela saved my life. My heart was broken.
00:29Michaela has six children of her own and has been a surrogate before.
00:35I just needed to know that the people that I did it for loved each other and wanted a baby.
00:41And so I saw that in the way that they looked at each other.
00:45Unusually, the midwife at the birth is also a surrogate.
00:49She's currently 35 weeks along with her second surrogate pregnancy.
00:54It just felt so good being able to, you know, grow a baby
00:59and see the joy and the love on her parents' faces.
01:05While baby Delilah had two surrogates bring her into the world,
01:08this situation is extremely rare.
01:11The red tape, high costs and legal complexities
01:14make it a difficult journey for both surrogates and prospective parents.
01:19Surrogates in Australia can't be paid for carrying a baby,
01:23but parents cover all pregnancy-related costs, including IVF treatments.
01:28The Lloyds IVF bill alone is around $50,000.
01:32Because I don't have a uterus, we don't get any Medicare rebates,
01:35which doesn't seem fair.
01:37It's estimated there are around 100 surrogate births in Australia every year.
01:43The Lloyds would like more people to be given this chance.
01:46You start a whole other family for someone and you can see,
01:50like, we'll be grandparents now.
01:52In the meantime, they're just grateful to hold their baby daughter.