Introduction by Sonia Allan and Stephanie Raeymaekers

Donor conceived and surrogate born people heard for the first time at the UN during the 30th Anniversary Convention on the Rights of the Child On Tuesday the 19th November 2019 something historical happened. It was for the first time that a large international group of donor conceived and a surrogacy born persons took the stage and gave a presentation to talk about the implications and complications when deliberately being deprived of fundamental rights as humans and children. By sharing their personal stories they addressed numerous issues and complications they endure when their interests and rights aren’t been considered and their voices are being ignored. Overview of the whole presentation. Introduction by Sonia and Steph S1: What if you were born via surrogacy and have known and had contact with your biological birth mother and siblings all your life? (Gee) S2: What if you know you are donor-conceived but don’t know who your biological parent(s) or siblings are? (Matty, Beth & Albert) S3: What if the government is complicit in keeping your identity a secret and your birth certificate is a lie? (Damian & Catarina) S4: What if you find out you have dozens of siblings? (Joey) S5: What if your biological mother/father/sibling has a medical condition you know nothing about? (Jo & Jo) S6: What if you wonder if you are related to everyone who looks like you or the person you are dating? (Hayley & Sharni) S7: What if you felt like part of a living experiment in which your human rights don’t matter? (Sebastiana & Courtney) Conclusion by Myf and Sarah Sonia: My name is Sonia Allan. I am here today in my personal capacity as a public health, law and policy researcher who has been examining the regulation of assisted reproduction, donor conception and surrogacy for decades. Together with Stephanie Raeymaekers, a donor-conceived person and advocate for donor-conceived rights, we would like to present this session to connect you with the experiences of, and impact upon, people born as a result of such practices. Specifically, as the UN is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the convention on the rights of children, we would like to take this opportunity to recognise that while donor-conception and surrogacy practices have become increasingly widespread, governments in most countries of the world have failed to enact laws that protect the rights of children born as a result--including but not limited to, rights that relate to knowing one’s identity, family, and not being bought or sold. Moreover, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that debates on how to regulate assisted reproduction and surrogacy, are often absent of the voices of donor-conceived or surrogacy born people, or only include them as an afterthought. Today, we introduce you to their voices, and implore you to remember the saying ‘nothing about them, without them’. Let us seize this opportunity to listen to people born as a result of donor-conception and surrogacy and hear from them what they know is in their best interests. Steph : Yes, and in doing so, you will see that the breaches of our fundamental rights cause many complications, issues and bewilderment. To help you understand better we have built the presentation around several statements. Each one will be explained by personal stories of donor-conceived and surrogacy born people who joined us here today to give you an insight into their lived experiences. We travelled from all corners of the world: Australia, UK, Europe and America at our own cost and time to be heard. We’re all here because we think it’s too important not to be. Please try to listen and reflect on some of the core issues we endure when decisions are made at our expense and without consulting us. If you want to talk to us afterwards, don’t hesitate. This being said, I would like to give the floor to Gee Roberts. Gee is a donor conceived born out of surrogacy – the only person here in our group who had knowledge and contact with her extended family all her life. Her talk will be followed by many others, who will show you what happens when this is not the case, when commodification occurs, and when our voices are not heard or even considered.