A woman from Queensland gave birth in November 2025 to two children who shared the same pregnancy but have no biological parents in common. The case, described by the court decision as unique and with no known precedents in Australia, arose after the woman became pregnant naturally at the same time as she was undergoing fertility treatment to act as a surrogate for another couple.
The woman, identified in the court decision by the initials DZ, already had five children when, in September 2024, she agreed to be a surrogate for BNJ and DRJ. The couple had undergone fertility treatment and the embryos were transferred to DZ's uterus, who ended up naturally becoming pregnant with a third baby, resulting in a pregnancy of three embryos.
After the birth, DNA tests confirmed that each twin was biologically from a different couple: one from the BNJ and DRJ couple and the other from DZ and her own partner. The court was then called upon to decide on the legal parentage of the children, taking into account that DZ is the biological mother of only one of the twins.
