The Importance of a Genetic Link in Surrogacy Arrangements: Law, Public Opinion and Reconciling Conflict

Abstract

In New Zealand, the 2013 Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ACART) Guidelines on Surrogacy Involving Assisted Reproductive Procedures required that the ethics committee, when considering an application for surrogacy, determine that at least one intending parent “will be a genetic parent of any resulting child”. In 2017, ACART began public consultation to consider changes to these Guidelines, and specifically sought feedback on whether a genetic link should remain a mandatory requirement in a surrogacy application. As a result of this consultation, new Guidelines were issued in September 2020 which remove the requirement of a genetic link. This chapter will first discuss the genetic link requirement under the 2013 Guidelines and the justification for both its initial inclusion and ACART’s subsequent recommendation to remove it based on a limited amount of public feedback. It will then consider the results of a representative survey carried out by the author in 2017–2018 to understand public perceptions of surrogacy. The survey evidence indicates support for the removal of a genetic link requirement, while at the same time suggesting that the issue is not as simple as it might appear, highlighting the need for further discussion around concepts of parentage and surrogacy.