Rosanna Davison has shared her delight as a new bill offering full legal rights to both parents for children born through international surrogacy, has been presented to the Dáil.
If passed, parents, who prior to the bill welcomed children via international surrogacy, would still be able to avail of the new legislation, and could apply for parental rights.
She and husband Wes Quirk welcomed their daughter Sophia, via international surrogacy in 2019. But Rosanna has been honest about their journey has been like, and voiced her frustration at Ireland’s surrogacy regulations, which prevented her from being recognised as Sophia’s mother legally until the tot reached the age of two.
But the former Miss World has shared her support from this new bill. Sharing a snap of herself, Wes, and their surrogate Anastasia, she wrote: “This photo was taken this day three years ago, just minutes after we met our daughter’s gestational surrogate [Anastasia] in Kyiv for the first time. She was 38 weeks pregnant with Sophia and we accompanied her to her final scan, hearing Sophia’s heartbeat for the first time.”
Continuing: “Fast-forward exactly three years, and Anastasia is now living in Dublin with her family after fleeing the war in Ukraine. We woke up this morning to the fantastic news that three Irish government ministers, [Stephen Donnelly] [Helen McEntee] and [Roderic O’Gorman] have agreed on proposals which are expected to give full legal rights to both parents of children born through international surrogacy.”
“It allows for second parents of children born through international surrogacy to apply for retrospective declarations of parentage to the courts along with prospective declarations for intending parents.”
“Like so many other Irish families left in legal limbo for years, we are absolutely delighted to see that the legislation on surrogacy is nearly here. Our children deserve to be equal in their rights to have a lifelong legal relationship with both parents, regardless of how they were born. Everyone should be safeguarded and cared for in the surrogacy process.”
“Congratulations to all involved in this historic campaign and for bringing it this far, especially [Stephen]. The public encouragement and support has also been phenomenal and really appreciated… now let’s get behind this last push – #equality is just on the horizon for our children. What a Christmas present that would be!”
Westlife star Mark Feehily also shared his support for the bill.
The singer, and his fiancé Cailean O’Neill welcomed their daughter Layla via a surrogate back in 2019, and since then, Mark has been strong advocate of stronger legal protections for parents the children born through surrogacy.
Sharing his delight on Instagram, the Sligo native wrote: “A big win for the country is on the horizon! 🇮🇪”
“The relief and joy we feel waking up to this amazing news on a Sunday morning is huge. All of our children and families will very soon be waking up more protected and more equal! Thank you wholeheartedly to the large team of campaigners who all played their roles and united to take something unlikely and make it likely, and are now making it happen!”
“Come on Ireland”
