Mark and Matt made headlines in January when they travelled to Thailand for the birth of their two children via commercial surrogacy. Five months down the track, they tell Blaze about their journey so far.
Being a same-sex parent has been and will continue to be a life changing and fulfilling journey for us. We’re absolutely thrilled to wake up each morning greeted by our two lively children, Estelle and Tate. It’s now been five months since the births of our children through commercial surrogacy in Thailand. There’s something amazing about the way they look at the world with their bright eyes and laugh and smile at almost everything. They’re happy and healthy, which is worth the world to us. The love and support shown to us by our families and community has been overwhelmingly positive. We love these two more than anything and could not be happier with where life has taken us.
We always intended to have children one day, and had considered the options available to us in South Australia. South Australia is one of the few Australian states where same-sex couples are not able to adopt, so we knew that our most likely options were surrogacy or fostering. With commercial surrogacy illegal in Australia we had to consider international options. While India has been a popular destination for commercial surrogacy in past years, changes to Indian surrogacy law around a year ago now prevents singles and same-sex couples from undertaking surrogacy there. The US is another option, but at over $100 000 for one pregnancy it wasn’t financially viable for us. So we looked into surrogacy in Thailand, which costs around $40 000, and has been growing in popularity for Australians since the changes in India.
Read More at GNN
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