Lecture Theatre 3 (GBLT3), Old Govt Building, Pipitea Campus

New Zealand has no unified regulatory system governing the ethical and legal issues that arise with surrogate pregnancy arrangements. Accordingly, social scientists, moral philosophers and legal scholars have recently called for revision to parentage and payment around surrogacy.

Several academics have additionally suggested making surrogate pregnancy arrangements enforceable under New Zealand law. This discussion combines empirical research with New Zealand and Australian experts working in the field of assisted reproduction with interview data from surrogate mothers about their experiences of donating reproductive materials and services.

The aim of the presentation is to critically examine calls to introduce a regulatory model that makes surrogacy enforceable in light of concerns about the relational complexities of these arrangements.

Rhonda Shaw is an Associate Professor in the School of Social and Cultural Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. Her research interests include the sociology of ethics and empirical research on the donation and provision of human biological materials and services. Rhonda is a Principal Investigator on the Marsden Fund (2019 – 2022) project, ‘Accessing Assisted Reproduction: Social Infertility and Family Formation’.

Please note, this seminar will not be webcast.

For further information, please contact the HSRC administrator at HSRC@vuw.ac.nz.