The criminal act of commercial surrogacy in Australia: a call for review

Australian surrogacy legislation punishes the pursuit of a commercial surrogacy arrangement as a criminal offence. Such legislation was first introduced in Victoria in 1986 and has since been applied in every Australian jurisdiction except for the Northern Territory. The current application of criminal law is based upon this 1980s policy which has never been subject to public debate. This article argues that the continued application of criminal penalties to commercial surrogacy requires review.