A United Nations expert has urged the international community to recognise surrogacy as a form of violence and exploitation against women, calling for its worldwide abolition.
In a report titled Violence Against Women and Girls in the Context of Surrogacy to the UN General Assembly, Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, argued that surrogacy commodifies women’s bodies and children, particularly preying on women from marginalised and impoverished backgrounds. She described the practice as a driver of physical, psychological, and economic harm, violating fundamental rights such as health, privacy, family life, and personal safety.
The report defines surrogacy as “a practice in which a woman (the ‘surrogate mother’) becomes pregnant and carries a child for another individual or couple (the ‘commissioning parent(s)’ or ‘intended parent(s)’. The practice of surrogacy is on the rise worldwide, with a significant and growing proportion of arrangements involving cross-border dynamics: intended parents, often from wealthier countries, engage surrogates in jurisdictions where the practice is legally permitted.
The report’s findings highlighted the following:
- The global surrogacy market was valued at nearly $15 billion in 2023, projected to reach $100 billion by 2033.
- Most surrogates receive only 10–27 per cent of total payments: agencies and brokers pocket the rest.
- Cross-border surrogacy is booming – wealthy clients from the West seek poor women in developing countries.
Surrogacy isn’t all sunshine and roses either. The report sheds light on what surrogacy entails in practice across various contexts. In Ukraine, India, and Georgia, women are often kept in dormitories, monitored 24/7, and pressured to give up their babies immediately after birth. The report calls this what it is – a form of reproductive servitude.
The most alarming and unsurprising finding is the impact on children – the forgotten victims. Studies cited in the report show higher risks of premature birth, low birth weight, and long-term emotional challenges linked to disrupted attachment. In some instances, surrogacy contracts may include clauses for “selective reduction”, meaning abortion based on the sex of the fetus or perceived disabilities. Some agencies even promote the idea that pregnancy termination is guaranteed if any imperfections are detected.
This reflects a troubling aspect of commodification: when a child is viewed as a product, any defects become reasons for disposal. Additionally, the lack of background checks on commissioning parents has led to instances of abuse, including cases where sex offenders have sought to commission children. International law does not explicitly protect against surrogacy abuse, but existing treaties (CEDAW, CRC, ICCPR) prohibit the sale of children, trafficking of women and commodification of the human body.
The report recommends that governments work toward abolishing surrogacy altogether, including suspending cross-border arrangements and reaffirming that mothers are women who give birth. As work is being done to achieve this, Alsalem makes some of the following recommendation. That governments should:
- Adopt an international ban on all forms of surrogacy through a binding legal instrument.
- Criminalise buyers, agencies, and clinics that profit from surrogacy, while decriminalising surrogate mothers and supporting them to exit the practice.
- Recognise the birth mother as the legal mother, with parental rights transferable only after birth and through formal adoption procedures.
- Reject recognition of foreign surrogacy contracts that confer parentage on non-biological individuals.
- Prioritise the best interests of the child, ensuring citizenship, protection from discrimination, and access to healthcare and education.
- Establish registries for egg and sperm donors to preserve children’s right to know their origins.
- Hold agencies and intermediaries accountable with criminal sanctions and asset confiscation.
- Train judges, lawyers, and law enforcement on human-rights-based approaches to surrogacy.
- Collect data on surrogate mothers and children to improve oversight.
Too often, the surrogacy debate centers around women’s autonomy, economic inequality and reproductive rights and very minimal on children’s rights. This UN report has bought attention to children’s rights and the commodification of children in the surrogacy process. The report’s findings should be a wake-up call.
Whilst we sympathize with adults who cannot have children and understand why some consider going to extreme lengths to have children (and grandchildren), surrogacy cannot, and will never be, in the best interests of the child – regardless of the adults’ intentions. Ultimately, as long as adult desires take precedence, the rights and needs of children are disregarded. So, we affirm the report’s view that the best interests of the child should remain central to all decisions about banning or regulating surrogacy, as well as to the creation of laws that protect the child’s fundamental rights.
Check out some of our work on surrogacy
This article was originally published by Family First New Zealand.
