FAQ

This is a professional service based on best practice research and models. It is designed to education both surrogates and Intended Parents (IPs) in forming well-suited teams and to support those teams over their surrogacy journeys with inbuilt counselling, mentoring and expenses management support.

SASS is an option for IPs and surrogates who are either looking to form a surrogacy team or for those who already have a team. See here for full details.

Surrogacy refers to an arrangement for a woman to become pregnant and give birth to a child for another couple or single person, with the intention of giving that child to the couple/person once they are born.

Although the laws differ from state to state, altruistic surrogacy is legal in Australia. You can find out more information about the laws across Australia on our website.

In an altruistic surrogacy agreement, a surrogate does not receive any financial payment or equivalent material reward. Altruistic surrogacy comes with an unspoken but necessary obligation of emotional reward for the surrogate. The surrogate is however, reimbursed by the intended parent/s for any medical expenses and general costs associated with the pregnancy .

Strategy	Goal	Action
Media engagement and community education	Increase Australian community understanding and awareness of altruistic surrogacy and its benefits	Part-time social media resource engaged from October 2019 to promote positive content across multiple social media platforms
Promote a workable altruistic surrogacy framework	Significantly raise the proportion of Australian intended parents engaging in domestic surrogacy	Introduced SASS program December 2018 to better facilitate screening, education and professional support of Australian surrogates and intended parents Allowed Monash University to conduct an independent evaluation of the SASS program from January 2020 – Jan 2022
Empower more Australian women to consider altruistic surrogacy	Significantly raise the proportion of Australian intended parents engaging in domestic surrogacy	Tell positive surrogate stories; promote community conversations; work with national and state media
Lobby to modify state and federal laws to make engaging in domestic surrogacy more affordable, better supported with less risks for all parties	Ensure children born via surrogacy to Australians have their intended parents recognised as their legal parents from birth	Legal affairs sub-committee working since Feb 2020 on a grass-roots strategy at state level to harness support from parents to engage with their local parliamentary members on the need for law reform

 

Surrogacy Australia’s Support Service (SASS) provides the necessary professional support to ensure we can introduce you to intended parents who understand surrogacy, meet the requirements you are seeking and can support you properly throughout your journey. For details, click here

No surrogacy journey is the same, so it is not possible to predict exact costs, but our experience with Australian parents shows costs average around $55,000 – $60,000 over a two year period, including (non-rebatable) IVF, legal fees, mandatory counselling, surrogate expenses and compensation for time off work, insurance and travel, post-birth transfer of parentage. With a range of $36,000 – $86,000 for a total journey. Costs may be lower for traditional surrogacy (non-IVF) and will also be lower where a successful pregnancy is achieved on the first embryo transfer. Doing your research by attending surrogacy seminars or conferences can save you many thousands.

Surrogates in a commercial surrogacy arrangement receive financial payment or reward for acting as a surrogate. They are also reimbursed for any medical expenses, just like an altruistic surrogacy arrangement.

Commercial surrogacy is illegal in Australia, and some states have legislation in place that restricts residents from entering into commercial surrogacy arrangements overseas. More information about this legislation is available on our website.

There are two types of surrogacy: gestational and traditional.

Gestational surrogacy is when the surrogate has a fertilised embryo transferred into her. The embryo is the product of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) using the sperm and egg of the intended parents or donated eggs or sperm. A gestational surrogate has no genetic contribution to the child they are carrying. Gestational surrogacy is the most common type of surrogacy in Australia.

Traditional surrogacy is when the surrogate uses her own eggs and the sperm of the intended father, often via home insemination. A traditional surrogate therefore has a genetic contribution to the child she is carrying.

Reach out to family and friends who may be in a position to be a surrogate for you. Many intended parents have been surprised how close to home they have found a surrogate.

Join online groups and forums to interact and connect with intended parents and surrogates. The Australian Surrogacy Community welcome Australian and New Zealand residents as members.

Join SASS (Surrogacy Australia’s Support Service) for more structured assistance in locating a suitable surrogate

Listen to Anna McKie presentation from the Growing Families conference in Brisbane in June 2021, “How to find a surrogate“.