Brian Dowling: ‘Surrogacy education is so important’ – RTE.ie

August 26, 2022 Kim Martel

TV stars Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian hope to highlight the challenges of Irish surrogacy laws for both gay and straight couples in an upcoming documentary on RTÉ, which will follow the couple’s journey to parenthood.

The former Big Brother star and the Dancing with the Stars judge, who are just days away from welcoming their new bundle of joy into the world, will share the highs and lows of having a baby via surrogacy in Brian and Arthur’s Very Modern Family.

In May, the expectant parents revealed Brian’s younger sister, Aoife, is the surrogate for the couple’s first child.

Speaking at the launch of RTÉ’s autumn/winter season launch, Brian revealed that they intend to film the birth for their upcoming show.

“We’re doing the documentary but we’re actually recording the birth as well, that was Aoife’s decision, because it’s also about her so she’s given us a thumbs up to record everything we’re doing and the delivery,” he said.

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Currently, there are no laws governing domestic or international surrogacy in Ireland. Brian admits he wants to add more awareness around this issue.

“It’s about the fact that surrogacy in Ireland isn’t legal, but it’s also not illegal. So there’s a loophole, there’s a loophole there somewhere.

“We sought treatment in Portugal for the actual IVF and all that, our donor’s from a different country, so when we actually got pregnant, we weren’t even sure if we’d be able to take Aoife to a doctor or a hospital in Ireland, in case they told us what you’re doing is wrong.”

The 44-year-old went on to say that when it comes to surrogacy “education is so important” and explained how his sister’s name will go on the baby’s birth certificate, even though she is not the biological mother of their child.

“I think education is so important and why we chose to do the documentary because we’re learning so much about it, even when it comes down to, we know who the biological father is, we’ve not disclosed that, but legally it leaves one of us in limbo for two years, they have no rights.

“Aoife is not the biological mother of our child. We used a donor, but in Irish law, her name goes on the birth cert. At any point, Aoife can change her mind and decide to keep the baby and even the biological father, which is one of us, you know, moms get more rights,” he said.

Arthur agreed that he hopes the documentary will educate and inform all parents on their surrogacy or adoption journey.

“It’s not only gays. It’s also straight [people], you know, it’s for everybody, especially during the documentary, we’re not doing just for the LGBTQ family.” he said.

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