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Insight: Sept 2

Insight, hosted by Anton Enus, looks at how surrogacy arrangements in Australia are unfolding.

2014-09-02_0054Always topical, tonight’s Insight, hosted by Anton Enus, looks at how surrogacy arrangements in Australia are unfolding and how people are navigating the unexpected.

After years of looking high and low for a surrogate – including unsuccessful attempts overseas – Jared and Michael finally found someone to help start their family. And she lived just a few streets away.

After several attempts, Rachel became pregnant with twin boys. They had a “dream run” with the pregnancy until the 27th week when Rachel suddenly experienced severe bleeding.

The lives of Rachel and the baby twins hung in the balance.

“That’s when it fully dawned on me just how much she was doing for us,” Jared says. “I probably started to panic a hell of a lot.”

It was a sobering moment for Rachel too.

“I also had that realisation of what am I doing this for? They’re not even my children. I’m putting myself at risk,” she says.

Guests include:

“Lisa”
“Lisa” was an altruistic surrogate for friends who were unable to conceive. But it didn’t go to plan. At the twelve-week scan, doctors discovered the fetus had a high probability of having Edward’s Syndrome. The intended parents wanted to terminate the pregnancy, but Lisa felt very uncomfortable with that – she thought there might be a slim chance the baby could be fine. However, on the wishes of the intended parents, she went through with the termination. “It is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” she says.

Amy Day and Alex Miller

Amy Day has a 12 week old daughter Roxy thanks to the help of her sister Alex Miller. Alex offered to be an altruistic surrogate as Amy was born without a uterus. The sisters both say it was a positive experience despite a few tensions along the way. Alex says she was caught off guard by the emotional bond she formed with Amy’s baby, especially in the immediate days after the birth. And she finds it hard living in the US, far away from Roxy. “I just wish I could reach out and give that little girl a cuddle,” she says.

Kajsa Ekis Ekman

Kajsa Ekis Ekman says surrogacy goes against women’s fundamental rights. “I liken (it) very much to the prostitution industry. Instead of you know being sex for sale it’s reproductive prostitution where basically women are turned into breeders and when children are bought and sold.”

Cherise Tainton

Cherise Tainton had four children from a previous marriage, but wanted a fifth child with her new partner. However, she was medically unable to. With limited altruistic options in Australia, she enlisted the help of a surrogacy clinic in India. She says she paid the surrogate over and above the clinic’s set fees in order to help the surrogate. “She (the surrogate) was doing it for her family to have a better life and put her kids through education and everything so we offered her more money,” she says. Her resulting daughter, Rhani, is now four years old.

Tuesday, 2 September at 8.30pm on SBS ONE.

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