Surrogacy

Surrogacy refers to situations where someone is unable to carry a pregnancy and a surrogate is needed to carry the pregnancy instead. This may involve the surrogate being inseminated with sperm.

More commonly, surrogacy means that anyone unable to carry the pregnancy and their partner (if applicable), would create embryos through IVF. Then, the surrogate has an embryo transferred to their uterus to carry the pregnancy.

In all situations, surrogacy in New Zealand requires a case by case application from the fertility clinic to the Ethics Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ECART) before treatment can take place.

An application to ECART requires medical, legal and counselling consultations to ensure all parties are well informed. If ECART approve an application, treatment can usually take place quite quickly.

A surrogate needs to be in good health, be medically appropriate to carry a pregnancy, and have completed their own family. 

It is highly preferable that a surrogate is someone that the client(s) who need the surrogate, know well. It must be the intention of the surrogate to give the baby, after delivery, to the intended parents. The client(s) requiring the surrogate need to go through the formal process of adopting the baby.

If you wish to discuss surrogacy, please contact us to make an appointment to see one of our doctors. 

If surrogacy is considered to be the most appropriate option, then our counsellors will guide and support you through the ECART application process and treatment.

Megan Black
Nurse Manager

DipNurs

Megan leads the nursing team through the continually changing face of IVF. She works in a multidisciplinary team, providing the essential organization between the doctors and laboratory and ensuring communication between all departments.

Megan started her IVF nursing career in the United Kingdom, working in two large London clinic’s before returning to New Zealand. She is also the Secretary of Fertility Nurses of Australasia.

I love working with people and see nursing as a vocation, not a job. I usually spend my downtime absorbed in a good book and planning my next travel adventure.