A Perth man has paid $50,000 for a woman in India to be a surrogate mother and have his twin boys.
The single man, aged in his 30s, was desperate to have children.
He travelled to a Mumbai clinic last month to pick up the twins, several days after their birth at Hiranandani Hospital. He returned to Perth this week with the four-week-old babies.
It was his third attempt at surrogacy in India after a woman chosen to be a surrogate failed to fall pregnant last year. The two unsuccessful attempts cost him another $24,000.
In the last attempt, twins were conceived using the man's sperm and donor eggs from an Indian woman.
A different woman acted as surrogate.
Unlike WA where commercial surrogacy is banned, India offers several programs, some specifically aimed at Australians.
The WA Health Department confirmed it had approved two non-commercial surrogacies, and a third was being considered, but it had no control over overseas programs.
The man who used the Indian surrogate said he expected some people would not approve of what he did.
But he had wanted to have a family for years.
The man, who did not want to be named, said he had considered adoption and while he was not excluded, he felt he was unlikely to be selected by a family or government authorities.
"I decided to explore my options and ended up with surrogacy, and through a process of elimination went with India," he said.
"My motivation to be a father is no different to anyone else's and was the main reason I decided to proceed.
"I have stable employment, a beautiful home and am reasonably financially secure, so in my eyes there are no opportunities that my children would miss out on purely due to me being a single parent.
"I'm aware that many people would not approve but working in the field that I do, community corrections, made me realise that just because you have two parents in no way ensures a child is secure, respected and provided with the necessities of life. I am very fortunate to have an amazing extended family and a close-knit group of friends who are the babies' family."
Under Australian laws, a child born overseas through a surrogacy arrangement is considered eligible for Australian citizenship by descent provided at least one of the biological parents is an Australian citizen.
Fertility Specialists of WA medical director Roger Hart said there were strict rules at fertility clinics which were designed to protect the interests of the child. He did not believe surrogacy laws should be relaxed and said people entering into agreements with overseas clinics needed to be cautious.
[Source: Original Article]
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