MPs sit overnight for surrogacy debate
- From: The Courier-Mail
- February 11, 2010
DEBATE enabling gay couples and singles to have a baby through altruistic surrogacy was held in the Queensland Parliament overnight.
State Parliament sat until the early hours to discuss the Bill which decriminalises altruistic surrogacy but it is now not expected to be passed until later today with dozens of MPs still to speak on it, The Courier Mail reports.
The Opposition is opposing the Bill while Labor MPs will be given a conscience vote although this is not expected to block it.
LNP MP Rob Messenger compared surrogacy arrangements to the Stolen Generation.
"Surrogacy still involves taking away a baby from its birth mother and it is fraught with moral, ethical and physical danger," he said.
Mr Messenger said single people who were not in a committed relationship should not seek to have a child because it was nature's way of saying they were not ready to be a parent, while he also rejected gay men as appropriate parents.
"Two daddies cannot give a child a mother's love...all two men can do is provide that child with double the daddy love."
Earlier, an LNP MP questioned how a lesbian couple could raise a son during the fiery debate.
Condamine MP Ray Hopper said he could not support the proposed Government laws because they would allow gay couples to have a baby through a surrogate and went on to question how a boy could grow up with two mothers.
"Just look at the first five years of a child's life when you've got two mothers,'' he said.
"How do you take them to a public toilet when you go on a so-called family outing.
"They will have to go to the ladies toilet won't they.
"They (the mothers) are not going to let a little boy go to the male toilet.
"This is the sort of situation that these members (Labor MPs) over here haven't even thought of.
"What about a father's input into a little boy's life?
"How dare we try and break down the morals of a family by agreeing to this legislation.''
Mr Hopper said he was "disgusted" by the proposed changes which would reduce children to the status of pets.
"Children aren't pets...children are human beings,'' he told Parliament.
"My description of a family is a father and a mother and children...not two mothers...not two fathers.''
Premier Anna Bligh has defended her Government's proposed surrogacy laws saying same sex couples and singles were already becoming parents through IVF and artificial insemination.
Ms Bligh told Parliament it would be wrong to ban them from having a child through surrogacy.
"The time for putting our heads in the sand on this issue is over," she said.
Ms Bligh told the story of a Queensland couple who wrote to her urging the decriminalisation of altruistic surrogacy after losing three premature babies in two years.
The Premier said surrogacy would be their only hope for a family along with many other Queensland couples.
A surrogate mother is a woman who bears a child for another person, often for pay, either through artificial insemination or by carrying until birth another woman's surgically implanted fertilized egg.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, surrogacy has both its good and bad sides. Like what has been mentioned in the news, surrogacy is against the moral values. It will also create many social problems in the long run, for instance, gay couples or singles having surrogate babies may not have the ability to give the children a complete family. On the other hand, the decriminalisation of surrogacy can be accepted as well because it may be the only way for an infertile couple to get a child. Since there are both sides over this issue, the government perhaps has to further look into it and comes out with a decision which could satisfy both the proponents and the opponents.
This is very educational. Good job!
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