Julie Bishop warns couples to carefully consider overseas surrogacy laws

Her comments follow revelations by the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent program that government officials could not stop Australian parents from abandoning their baby son born to an Indian surrogate in 2012. The couple decided they only wanted to take the son's twin, a baby girl, back home because they “could not afford to support both children.” Freedom of Information (FOI) documents show that Australian officials raised concerns at the time that the baby boy could be left “stateless”. The boy was later adopted by an Indian family who connected with the Australian couple. Ms Bishop said she was confident the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade acted appropriately.