AboutIrish Families Through Surrogacy (IFTS) is a group of Irish parents who have had or are planning to have children through surrogacy. We are a voluntary organisation, campaigning for our children and future children born through surrogacy to have the protection and benefits of a legally recognised relationship with both parents like all other Irish children. IFTS was started by a group of mothers who have already undertaken the international surrogacy journey to motherhood due many failed medical procedures, multiple miscarriages and health conditions. This journey has been further compounded by the lack of legal recognition and exclusion of Irish mothers in the legal process and the high legal costs they face when they arrive home with their new born babies.
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Established in 2019Irish families through Surrogacy are a strong advocacy voice for children born through surrogacy and their parents. We support a community of several hundred parents through surrogacy from all corners of Ireland that help and support each other through this journey. From our own lived experience and through the support we offer to other Irish couples, we understand the urgent need for appropriate legislation in Ireland.
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Our Goal
The Health Bill (2022), in its current form provides for the establishment of an Assisted Human Reproduction Regulatory Authority and details its functions regarding the oversight and regulation of compliance with the proposed legislation regarding surrogacy arrangements. Its role will include the issuing of licences to AHR treatment providers and researchers. Given the ethical, legal and social concerns arising in relation to AHR, the need for a specific regulatory framework in these areas has been highlighted in a number of Irish and international expert reports, and high-profile Irish court cases, including the Supreme Court. There are similar ethical, legal and social concerns regarding international surrogacy and yet there is no provision for legislation for international surrogacy arrangements.
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