The report presented on August 23 in New York by Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, is unequivocal: the practice of surrogacy must be banned worldwide.
This document labels surrogacy as "modern slavery," as it reduces women to mere biological instruments and exposes children to a commerce that strips them of their personal dignity.
A System of Exploitation and Violence
Reem Alsalem minced no words: surrogacy is associated with "exploitation and violence against women and children." She emphasizes that this system reinforces "patriarchal" logic by treating a woman's body as a commodity or a mere object.
In many cases, surrogate mothers are stripped of all freedom: monitored movements, imposed medical care, and even pressure to perform selective abortions demanded by the commissioning parents.
A True Sale of Children
The report goes further by stating that commercial surrogacy amounts to selling children, which constitutes a crime under international law. The agreement between the intended parents and the surrogate mother is comparable to a property contract: the woman finds herself subject to clauses that are reminiscent in every way of slavery.
For the UN, this is a trafficking system that first shatters the dignity of the woman, but above all, that of the child.
Children, the Primary Victims
According to the report, children born from these practices are the primary victims. From birth, they are torn away from the woman who carried them. This intentional severing of the maternal bond, imposed by contract, is described as a serious violation of the child's psychological and emotional development.
It is no longer merely an abuse against the mother, but a programmed trauma against the child who, instead of being welcomed as a gift, becomes a delivered product.
The UN's Call for a Global Ban
The recommendations are clear:
- eradicate surrogacy in all its forms,
- nullify any legal recognition of contracts and parentage resulting from it,
- work towards the adoption of a binding international legal instrument to permanently prohibit this practice.
This report highlights the gravity of a system that denies the dignity of women and children, and directly opposes the Catholic vision of family and life, where every child is a gift from God and not a commodity.