Image – ADF International
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, Reem Alsalem, has called for a global ban on surrogacy, condemning the practice as a form of exploitation that inflicts serious harm on women and children.
Speaking at a UN General Assembly event hosted by the Government of Italy, Alsalem declared that surrogacy “is clearly responsible for inflicting large-scale violence, abuse, and exploitation on women and children.” She is set to present her full report to the General Assembly on 10 October, in which she urges governments to adopt a legally binding international treaty prohibiting all forms of surrogacy.
The report calls on nations to criminalise the commissioning and facilitation of surrogacy, ban its advertisement, and provide legal and psychological support to women already involved in such arrangements. It also stresses the need to uphold children’s rights to identity, care, and protection from exploitation.
Italy, which last year became the first country to outlaw surrogacy both domestically and abroad, has championed the global effort to end the practice. Italy’s Minister for Family, Eugenia Rocella, said that surrogacy should be addressed “not only domestically but internationally,” arguing that existing treaties protecting women and children should be updated to explicitly prohibit surrogacy as an affront to human dignity.
The UN report highlights how surrogacy intentionally severs the natural bond between mothers and their children, treating human life as a contractual product. It warns that even so-called “altruistic” surrogacy arrangements risk turning children into commodities and reducing women’s reproductive capacities to marketable services.
The global surrogacy industry, valued at £11.8 billion in 2023, is projected to reach nearly £80 billion by 2033. Despite its huge profitability, the majority of earnings go to brokers and clinics, while women face coercion, health risks, and emotional trauma.
International momentum to tackle this issue is fast-growing. SPUC is delighted with Alsalem’s report and proposal and joins her in her public stand against the dehumanisation of women and children throughout the consumerist surrogacy process.
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