An Australian gay couple are reportedly paying two Indian women $300 dollars a day for giving birth to their surrogate babies.
According to Cairns.com.au, they are believed to be the first gay dads in Queensland to
pay Indian women to carry their children, with the total bill costing up to $80,000 dollars, which would be equivalent to more than 10 years' wages for each of the women.
The couple have reportedly paid $20,000 for donor eggs from a Caucasian woman
in South Africa. However, they would have to undergo DNA tests to prove that the babies
descend from an Australian citizen and claim to be a part of the country.
Unpaid altruistic surrogacy was decriminalised in Queensland in February, allowing same-sex couples to be the legal parents of a surrogate child and the right to be listed as parents on the child’s birth certificate. Action Reform Change Queensland spokesperson Rod Goodbun, a vocal campaigner for reform of the state's surrogacy laws, said it was extremely rare for gay couples to have children using surrogate mothers overseas. "There are commercial services and agencies online where they can arrange surrogacy pregnancy and the agency will have a list of women who are willing to partake in
surrogacy. "At the moment it's not widespread and I don't think it's a huge trend in the
gay community," he said. Prior to this, Queensland was the only state where altruistic surrogacy was a criminal
offence, which led to a three years'' jail term or $10,000 fine. India and the US are the two most popular destinations for commercial surrogacy, where
contracts for pregnancy are legal.