Surrogate told to pay support to gay couple in Australia
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Australian Government is demanding a New Zealand surrogate mother pay child support for the baby she had for two gay Queensland men, amid accusations she abandoned it.
The one-year-old surrogate baby girl is being raised by the baby’s biological father and his male partner in Queensland, who are her legal guardians. They gained child support benefits for the father to stay home and care for her, as new parents are entitled to. However, authorities asked the surrogate to contribute, which she refused to do.
Unlike in New Zealand, surrogacy is illegal in Queensland and many parts of Australia.
Australian funding agencies Centrelink and the Child Support Agency confirmed they were likely to seek maintenance payments from a birth mother in New Zealand if the Australian birth father claimed benefits as a sole parent caring for their baby.
I don’t know whether I agree with this…I mean, she most likely just had the baby as a favor to them. It’s not like where a heterosexual couple has a baby and the father abandons his family.
sure, this makes about as much sense as hunting down unmarried bio fathers that had no intention of having a child. THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO BUSINESS IN THIS. the couple in question shouldn’t have had a “:surrogate” mother if they couldn’t afford a child. Women everywhere should have to pay for their choices, not hunt down men to finance their poor choice. It’s a “choice”, right? That’s what they keep saying, until the bill comes due. Men’s reproductive rights don’t exist. They should. TIll then, this woman should pay. Why not? After all, she had a child. That’s all the rationale needed to extort money from men.
O.k she ran off…so what, this is not the issue. Rather the main issue lies in the fact that these two men have deceived the government. Surely they are liable. From the little facts one can infer that she was paid for her services, as one of the men is the father…this is illegal. More to the point, after blatantly disregarding the law they have then had the audacity to file for benifits. The government has every right to get involved.