McCann found herself questioning how she and her wife, Gail, had been sucked into censured Melbourne lawyer Paul Norris-Ongso’s “crazy car salesman” trappings with his company Global Surrogacy, and his $100,000 contract seemingly full of false promises.
This masthead has spoken to numerous former clients, a surrogate, and former staff, all of whom accused Norris-Ongso of running an unethical enterprise that links international clients with women in developing countries.
Norris-Ongso has three children born to two surrogate mothers with his husband. Global Surrogacy has since rebranded to KinPath Surrogacy. He no longer holds an Australian legal practising certificate and, in 2019, was subject to disciplinary action by the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner.
In 2023, the Canberra couple transferred close to $100,000 to Norris-Ongso and his company, Global Surrogacy, to expand their family after McCann recovered from ovarian cancer.
“I told [Norris-Ongso] I did not want an unethical program,” McCann said. She told him she wanted a relationship with the surrogate.
They were matched with Martinez, a stay-at-home mother of two from Colombia’s north. Martinez saw surrogacy as a way to support her family while helping another. She said she regretted her decision to become a surrogate after her experience with Global Surrogacy.
The McCanns said they were told that Martinez would be paid about $40,000.
However, Martinez’s contract, which she had to screenshot because it was set to “view once”, stipulated 10 monthly payments of $900, insurance and social security, and a $10,500 post-birth bonus. Medical-related costs were also included. Her total direct payments amounted to just over $20,000, half of what the McCanns believed she was being paid.
Norris-Ongso denied telling the McCanns a payment amount. He said that, on average, Colombian surrogates received $20,000 directly, with another $20,000 covering insurance, medical fees, transport, translation and operating costs.
The McCanns were added to a group chat with Martinez that was monitored by Norris-Ongso. Martinez said she was told that it was illegal under Australian law for her to contact the McCanns independently.
Norris-Ongso said that Global Surrogacy was one of the few agencies that contractually required clients to communicate with their surrogates and to be able to contact them freely, with translators and interpreters provided on request.
At 18 weeks’, the McCanns travelled to Colombia for the gender scan. There, they learnt how Martinez was being treated. “She was basically exploited, something shocking,” Melinda said. “She was violently ill, and they did nothing.”
Later, the company ordered Martinez to travel alone to Bogotá – a 17-hour drive, or 90-minute flight – to give birth, contrary to her original doctor’s advice and with no plan for who would care for her children.
Martinez gave birth via caesarean in October 2024 at a hospital near her home city. She said she was not allowed to have her mother or another support person in the delivery room. McCann stood beside her, watching the delivery.
Instead of the promised lump sum, Martinez was paid in instalments over weeks, causing her to lose a house she intended to buy.
“[I felt that] I’d given birth, I was useless now,” she said. She has struggled with the separation from the baby, and said she wished there was mental health support to help cope.
Meanwhile, the McCanns entered a bureaucratic nightmare. Melinda said Norris-Ongso failed to file citizenship paperwork accurately. After he stopped responding to calls, the McCanns appealed to the media and Senator David Pocock. Alexis was finally granted citizenship after two months had passed.
[Ed: There is no such thing as an ethical surrogacy program.]
Source: Surrogacy: Family stranded and surrogate allegedly ‘exploited’ by company