Meet three surrogates and hear their thoughts

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The recent case of baby Gammy shed light on the underground world of international commercial surrogacy.

Gammy was the Down syndrome baby abandoned to his surrogate mother in Thailand when the Australian couple who'd paid for him didn't want him anymore.

It made people realise just how inhumane the current system can be and prompted calls for paid surrogacy to be legalised in Australia, where at least it can be regulated.

In all the recent debate, there's one group of people from whom we've not heard: the children of surrogate mothers.

Tonight, 7.30 asks three children born through surrogacy how they feel about their identities, their families and whether commercial surrogacy should be allowed.

Madeleine Morris reports.

MADELEINE MORRIS, REPORTER: Morgan Rennie is never going to play for Australia. Soccer's more an excuse for this 17-year-old to laugh with her friends and have a gossip on the sidelines.

So far, so normal, but Morgan's story has an unusual beginning.

MORGAN RENNIE: My biological mum is in America and I have some siblings over there as well and this is because my parents, like, tried for a long time and could never successfully have kids and so they took the option of surrogacy.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Morgan's parents went through eight miscarriages, two ectopic pregnancies and a decade of failed IVF. Their last chance was paying a surrogate mother in America to use her own egg and Graham's sperm to have a baby.

TANIA MORGAN, MOTHER: And there's little Morgan. (Reading from note) "Dear Tania and Graham, here's the first picture of your baby."

MADELEINE MORRIS: It didn't come cheap.

TANIA MORGAN: So the total cost was $46,920.

GRAHAM MORGAN, FATHER: Gee, $15,000 went to Laurie.

TANIA MORGAN: I know. It was worth every cent though, wasn't it?

GRAHAM MORGAN: Oh, absolutely.

NEWSREADER: A Down syndrome baby a life-threatening heart condition was left with his impoverished surrogate mother in Thailand after his Australian parents abandoned him.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Baby Gammy exposed the dark side of unregulated international commercial surrogacy. The case provoked calls for Australia to change its laws. Currently, everywhere bar the Northern Territory, paying a woman to carry someone else's child is banned.

One cheerleader for change is the Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit Court.

JOHN PASCOE, CHIEF JUDGE, FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT: We need I think as a community to understand the difference between commercial surrogacy and altruistic surrogacy. ... And very importantly, we need to look at how do we control Australians going overseas and commissioning children through surrogacy?

MORGAN RENNIE: It is really important and I think it should be done in Australia.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Morgan Rennie says her experience of regulated commercial surrogacy has been nothing but positive.

MORGAN RENNIE: So these are from last year in March when we went to America and we dropped by to see all the family.

MADELEINE MORRIS: That's Laurie there and you.

MORGAN RENNIE: Yep, Laurie, Hayley and I and that's my little niece. ...

... I think of Laurie as just another family member. Like, she's a really close friend and I never forget obviously what she's done for us and I automatically know, but I've never connected that to being my mother. She's just a good friend and also where I get my red hair from.

ALICE CLARKE: Both my mum and dad are infertile, so they used donor sperm and my mum's egg and my aunt's womb, and then eight months later, the only time I'VE ever been early in my whole life, there was me.

MADELEINE MORRIS: 26 years ago, Alice Clarke made headlines when she became Australia's first surrogate baby.

So I have a treat for you.

ALICE CLARKE: Yep.

MADELEINE MORRIS: So this is the 7.30 story when you were born.

ALICE CLARKE: Holy c**p!

MADELEINE MORRIS: Now, Alice is in a position to answer some of the moral questions her birth raised.

COMMENTATOR (archive footage): What certainly has happened is that child has ambiguous parenthood. Nobody yet knows who the parents are.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Do you feel like you with ambiguous origins?

ALICE CLARKE: (Laughs) I think I had the clearest origin in the entire world. I doubt there was a person in Australia who didn't know my origin at this point. Anybody who's ever seen me with mum or dad knows that I'm their kid.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Alice Clarke had always been against commercial surrogacy, but last year her views abruptly changed.

ALICE CLARKE: For 26 years I thought altruistic surrogacy was the only way to go and commercial surrogacy would lead down a dangerous path to poor women being exploited and forced to give up babies and abusive people. But then the baby Gammy thing happened and it really made me re-evaluate my stance on things because commercial surrogacy's going to happen no matter what. And we may as well have it in Australia so we can regulate it.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Like Alice Clarke, Phillippa Rushford was carried by her aunt for free when her parents' 10-year attempt to get pregnant failed. She too followed the baby Gammy case closely.

PHILLIPPA RUSHFORD: I thought it was a bit ridiculous that there's - like, there is no laws over there. There's nothing that stops anyone doing it. And I just - I felt sorry for the - like, child that's gonna get left out because the parents didn't want it.

MADELEINE MORRIS: One of the debates that's going on in Australia at the moment is whether we should be allowed to have commercial surrogacy. What do you think?

PHILLIPPA RUSHFORD: Um, like, I would prefer how we did it. But if it's the last resort for someone, then go ahead. If that's the only way they can get a child and they want it that much, then they should be able to do it.

JOHN PASCOE: I think we can't ignore the fact that this technology is available and it can be used to benefit people who otherwise can't have a child. But as so often occurs, the technology is well in advance of the law.

ALICE CLARKE: Surrogacy is not for everyone. Raising a kid that isn't genetically yours is not for everyone. Giving up your own genetic material is harder for some people than others. So you just need to work that all out and you need to have rules.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Morgan, Phillippa and Alice all feel enormously loved and they have always known the truth about their conception and birth and they all think that matters much more than whether money changes hands.

MORGAN RENNIE: I never felt bought. I've never even thought about it. I know how much effort my parents put in to getting me, I know how much love they have for me and money was just a factor that was a part of it.

ALICE CLARKE: My experience has been great. I usually don't see what all the fuss is about.

PHILLIPPA RUSHFORD: I'm really thankful that they kept on trying. Like, they could've given up at any time, but they never did.

MORGAN RENNIE: If anything, I'm like, "I cost a lot of money. I'm worth a lot, that's right." (Laughs)