New Zealand working to update surrogacy laws to make process easier
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[May 31, 2023]
By Lucy Craymer
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - The New Zealand government will update the
country's surrogacy law to make the process easier and less
discriminatory, New Zealand's Justice Minister Kiri Allan said late on
Tuesday.
"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to surrogacy are outdated and need to change," Allan said in a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.
Parents must adopt a child born by surrogacy under the 70-year-old
adoption laws.
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.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/May/31/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png)
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.
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![](../images/053123PIX/health39.jpg)
A pedestrian walks past the New Zealand
parliament building known as the Beehive in central Wellington, New
Zealand, July 3, 2017. REUTERS/David Gray
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/May/31/images/ads/current/debbiesfloral_lda_060123.png) Juanita Copeland, a board member of
Fertility New Zealand, a nonprofit organization, 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 Oct. 14.
(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Richard Chang)
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