July 29, 2021
Whakapapa and tikanga questions for surrogacy reform
The Law Commission wants to know whether tikanga Māori is provided for under current law around surrogacy.
The commission is proposing a new framework to provide legal recognition for the parents of surrogate-born children.
Agreements where a woman agrees to become pregnant and carries and delivers a child for another person or couple is legal in Aotearoa New Zealand and is becoming more common as a method of family-building.
Te Aka Matua o te Ture principal adviser Nichola Lambie, says a key problem with the current law is that intended parents must adopt the child in order to be recognised as the child’s legal parents.
The commission has released a paper for comment on issues such as the approval process, financial arrangements, and how to ensure children born through surrogacy receive information about their origins and whakapapa.
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