Queensland Passes Surrogacy Bill which includes Gay Couples
Two Labor MPs have crossed the floor to vote against the QLD (Bligh) Government's plan to allow gay couples and single parents to have children through surrogacy though it was not enough to scuttle the Bill which was passed at 8pm, 45 votes to 36 following a substantial and lengthy debate. Seven MPs also did not cast a final vote on the Bill, only two crossed the floor due to conflicts with the entire biil - all other noted non voters were absent due to travel.
However with the floor crossers, Former Minister Margaret Keech and Capalaba MP Michael Choi told Parliament they could not support the entire Bill that decriminalises altruistic surrogacy without severely compromising their consciences.
"It is never easy to disagree with colleagues...(but) at times even the best of friends disagree," Mr Choi said.
He revealed he had concerns about the practice of surrogacy because there was a pre-meditated intention to separate a child from their birth mother.
But Mr Choi added that he may have been persuaded to support it as a last resort for infertile heterosexual couples but he could not back a Bill which also "pre-destined" a child to grow up in a family with just one parent or with two parents of the same sex.
Ms Keech said while she supported the decriminalisation of altruistic surrogacy, her conscience did not allow her to support the widening of eligibility of surrogate parents to include singles and same sex couples.
A vote on the second reading of the Bill was supported 48-40.
Complex Queensland parliamentary rules meant the Opposition's alternative surrogacy Bill – which restricted it to married and defacto heterosexual couples – could not be voted on tonight because it was too similar to the Government's Bill.
So the Opposition instead moved amendments to the Government's Bill in a last-minute bid to exclude gay couples and single parents from surrogacy but these were also defeated 35 votes to 46.
