Shared and contested meanings and practices of surrogacy in Australia

This project examines altruistic surrogacy through Australian experiences. Surrogacy combines technology, social relations, economics and cultural understandings to produce practices and discourses. As surrogacy remains contested and international surrogacy continues to be unregulated, there is an increased need for understanding surrogacy as a phenomenon.

This project utilizes two types of research data: 1) materials produced by the stakeholders such as podcasts and books 2) interviews of Australian surrogates, intended parents and professionals. The first type of data is authentic material without the influence of the researcher revealing issues and topics that the stakeholders deem important but has its own goals and agendas. The interview data is used to critically analyze the first type of data and to cover issues relevant to this project that may need more clarification and deeper examination.

The project tackles questions such as

The meaning of reproductive technologies and medicalization of pregnancy and birth for surrogates and intended parents.
The interpersonal affective dimensions of building relationships in altruistic surrogacy.
The role of peer support and organizations in the surrogacy process and practices.

This project aims to diversify the understanding of surrogacy in academic discussion. The resulting insights may be relevant for planning and implementing new policies regarding surrogacy regulation in many jurisdictions.

Background

Despite being a contested phenomenon, international surrogacy continues to flourish globally. No international regulation exists that could safeguard the best interest of children or intended parents and surrogates. Many jurisdictions that do not allow surrogacy must come to terms with the fact that it is happening regardless of local laws. Reproductive travel to access surrogacy abroad happens also from jurisdictions that allow altruistic surrogacy. It is paramount to understand how altruistic surrogacy works and doesn’t work to understand why it is not the answer to ending commercial surrogacy and traveling to access it. On top of this, the duality between commercial and altruistic needs to be questioned and critically assessed.

Goal

The goal of the project is to chart current developments in altruistic surrogacy in Australia to gain a deep understanding of its meaning for people involved in it. This is done by combining two different types of data: authentic, stake-holder produced material and researcher led interviews.

Produced through careful, theoretically informed analysis, the resulting insights will help lawmakers in many jurisdictions to chart best practices and policies. Australian altruistic surrogacy experience has also unique qualities that enrich the conversation about surrogacy in general.

Impact

The project aims to add nuance to the academic, social scientific discussion on surrogacy. Surrogacy is often only examined from ethical and legal aspects which are important. However, this project aims to shift the focus toward thinking of surrogacy as an assemblage of multiple, intertwining factors such as technology, social relations, economics and cultural understandings.

Funding source

Tampere University

People

Kaisa Naskali Buddle

Doctoral Researcher

Faculty of Social Sciences

Tampere University

kaisa.naskalibuddle [at] tuni.fi (kaisa[dot]naskalibuddle[at]tuni[dot]fi)

+358504792247

City Centre Campus

Contact persons

Kaisa Naskali Buddle

kaisa.naskalibuddle [at] tuni.fi

Kaisa Naskali Buddle

I am a PhD researcher at Tampere University, Finland. I have a master's degree in social and cultural anthropology from the University of Helsinki, Finland.

Before starting my PhD journey, I worked in a public office. The work was interesting, but I realized that I would like to try my wings in research. As I had studied surrogacy in my master’s thesis, this topic still intrigued me, and I knew there had been many new developments worth looking into. I was lucky enough to get funding for my research project for which I need to thank University of Tampere.

I have strong personal ties to Australia as my husband and daughter are both dual citizens of Finland and Australia. I have visited New South Wales multiple times and enjoyed the vibrancy of Sydney and the calm of the South Coast. I will be traveling to NSW again in November 2025 to spend Christmas there with family.

I have followed developments in Australian surrogacy since 2012 and many changes have happened since then. I know that Australian surrogacy landscape has unique aspects that have not been thoroughly researched but have a lot to offer to the current academic discussion on surrogacy especially in Finland but also globally. I personally have no interest in Australian surrogacy laws and regulations. My research is purely motivated by curiosity about this phenomenon and I want to look at it with open mind and listen to people's experiences.

If you would like to know more about my research project, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Information for participants

Information sheet

Dear research participant

I kindly as you to participate in a PhD research project that examines altruistic surrogacy in Australia with a working title “Surroship in the making: the shared and contested meanings and practices of surrogacy in Australia”. Information gathered about you is confidential and it will be handled according to EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act of Finland. The research and research methods are in accordance with the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research.

I wish to ask for your permission to participate in an interview (approximately 1-2 hours). The interviews will be conducted online either via Teams or Zoom and recorded. If possible, the interview can be conducted face-to-face when I will visit Sydney at the end of the year 2025. I will conduct the interviews and process all interview material personally. In case a transcription company is used to conduct the transcriptions, the handover of the interview material is secured, and only companies with agreement with the Tampere University will be used with strict confidentiality.

By interviewing surrogates, intended parents and professionals, I hope to gain a deep understanding of the current reality of surrogacy in Australia. This research is a doctoral dissertation funded by the University of Tampere and I am unfortunately unable to offer any payment or other form of remuneration for the research participants. The interview recordings will be collected only for research purposes, and they are handled confidentially.

Your participation in the research project is completely voluntary. You may at any point cancel your participation in the research by contacting me. During the interview situation, you are free to end the conversation or take a break at any time. If you cancel your participation after interviews have already been conducted, the material collected will be retained. Your contact information, however, will be erased.

I will report the results in a doctoral dissertation published by the University of Tampere, Finland. I will also publish articles in research journals based on the research findings. I will secure the anonymity of the research participants in all publications.

As a researcher, I attempt to remain as impartial as possible and do not have any personal interest in surrogacy in Australia. The research results will hopefully be used to inform policy makers and to diversify the scientific and public discussion on surrogacy.

I will store the anonymized interview material at Tampere University’s network drive for a maximum of ten years after the research has been completed for my own further research. Contact information (as a separate file) is stored only as long as it takes to finish this research project unless you request your contact information to be removed earlier. With your explicit permission, the anonymized interview material will also be stored in Finnish Social Science Data Archive (https://www.fsd.tuni.fi/en/). Only researchers with a research interest will be able to gain access to the interview material stored in the archive.

I will visit Australia, Sydney, in the end of the year 2025 and can then meet research participants also in person. If you think this would be possible, we can discuss this more during the interview.

The interview is not intended to bring forth difficult emotions, but if you have experienced traumatic experiences related to the topic, it is possible that you will feel overwhelmed during the interview. If this happens, we can pause or end the interview, and you can talk about your feelings off record. If needed, you can contact LifeLine tel. 13 11 14 or your local healthcare provider. You can review the research questions in advance.

If you have further questions or need more information, please contact me.

Kaisa Naskali Buddle

Doctoral researcher

University of Tampere

Faculty of Social Sciences

tel. +358 50 4792247

kaisa.naskalibuddle [at] tuni.fi (kaisa[dot]naskalibuddle[at]tuni[dot]fi)

Informed consent form

Informed consent form (DOCX, 47.52 KB)

Privacy notice for research

Privacy Notice for Participants (PDF, 194.76 KB)

Informed consent form

Informed consent form (PDF, 97.32 KB)