The Health Committee has today presented an interim report to the House on the Improving Arrangements for Surrogacy Bill, a Member’s bill in the name of Tāmati Coffey, MP. The interim report has been presented to provide an update on how the committee intends to progress the bill given the publication of the Law Commission’s report, Te Kōpū Whāngai: He Arotake, Review of Surrogacy. That report made 63 recommendations addressing a range of issues involving surrogacy law, regulation, and practice.

The bill seeks to simplify surrogacy arrangements and provide a mechanism for enforcing them, and ensure that information recorded on birth certificates is complete. The committee received and considered 35 written submissions and heard oral evidence from 12 submitters.

The committee was due to present its report to the House by 18 November 2022. The committee has received an extension to the report back date, to 3 March 2023. The reason for the extension is to enable it to explore whether the bill could be amended to incorporate the Commission’s recommendations for legislative change.

For more details about the bill:

· Read the interim report

· Get more details about the bill

· Follow the committee’s Facebook page for updates on the bill

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