From Liverpool, to Glasgow and back to London. October was a busy month for me. I was honored to be asked to be a member of the panel at fringe event at the Labour conference for Labour Women’s Declaration, and to debate ‘The Morality of Surrogacy’ at the Battle of Ideas (footage on that soon). I had some fascinating conversations at both events and at FiLiA and I was greatly comforted by the volume of support we had at the march led by Glasgow Tactical Feminists.

The women of Scotland came in their numbers to support us against reform of surrogacy laws and the police did a fantastic job in facilitating our safe passage through the streets to the River Clyde as we gathered under La Pasionara.

It’s safe to say that our tiny, single issue campaign has swelled with support since it’s conception in 2019, in fact this year it has doubled in size with the launch of Surrogacy Concern! We proudly campaign together as we draw more and more interest and understanding of our position on law reform.

Throughout the month I spoke to many in person, via webinars, by phone and on email. My currently croaky, faded voice is testament to the number of conversations I had! I spoke to those who thought surrogacy was simply a way to have a family with assistance (they hadn’t heard about the proposals), others had heard a just a bit but hadn’t thought about them in any detail and what they mean for women and children.I spoke to gay men who reject surrogacy, young women who felt preyed upon by egg donor adverts and to women who have come across surrogacy through friendships or through their jobs, but hadn’t been able to put their finger on what it was that bothered them about it.

The gay men spoke about their desire to be fathers and their acceptance that it may not happen for them. One man spoke about his friends who have a surrogate born child and he noted the absence of a mother. A young woman told me of her shock that surrogacy has become so commonplace and her worries about what this means for women in the future. One young man I spoke to told me about sperm donation and the lack of support he had when he was rejected. I found all of these conversations insightful and painful at times, with the emotion these people shared with me and I felt lucky.

Every single engagement I had, long or short, left me with the concept of how complex and multi-layered surrogacy is. Having been elbow-deep for four years I confess I had lost some perspective. It was refreshing and invigorating, tracing my steps back to when I tumbled down this particular rabbit hole.

So what’s next? Well I’m back, there’s lots to do, lots more ground to cover and action to take. We have been inundated with emails and direct messages and myself, Liz and our small group of volunteers will be responding as soon as we can.

The pumpkins are disintegrating, the treats are all gone and soon it will be Christmas. But October was pivotal and we’re just getting started.